Day of the Dead
by BlackSandHeart
Summary: What would happen if suddenly everyone that had died within the last hundred years or so came back to life for a week? Well... even with the help from a few new people from Katherine's dimension it might not be enough to stop the return of the dead. It looks like this could be the end... Bit of OCxCream and a few other pairings. Please R&R ...and the story's finished...
1. Prologue

** Hear ye, hear ye! All people on FanFiction reading Sonic the Hedgehog stories or just looking for something good to read! Thank you for taking the time out of **_**your**_** day to check out this story! **

**The beginning might be a bit confusing for two reasons: One: it's a prologue. How many prologues do you know that are **_**not**_** confusing? Two: Maybe it's because you haven't read Dimension Jumpers or Katherine's Tale yet. If you don't know the name Katherine, Windy, or Zap and don't know what the heck a Light Giver is, then please go to those stories first or you'll be lost while reading this one.**

** Disclaimer= I don't own anything that belongs to SEGA. I only own Xerius, Xsus, Katherine, and Windy. Taking any of those characters without my permission is called copyright and copyrighting is the downright foulest thing a person can do.**

** On that happy note, here's the story!**

**Prologue: Two hours and Two minutes before Day of the Dead begins= 9:58 P.M.**

"Xerius?" A quiet voice asked his friend as the one named Xerius stood tall and proud. His dark brown eyes scaled the city lights of Station Square high above on the edge of a mountain, where he could view the city without being noticed. The cold wind from being so high up cut through his light brown fur with dark brown spots scattered throughout his body. His long tail almost dragged across the ground as his cat like ears twitched to the voice as it spoke his name.

"Where do you think the one called _Sonic the hedgehog _lives?" The other voice asked.

Xerius said nothing while the owner of the second voice looked down. His ocean blue eyes looked at a snowflake as it spun around in the sky above his head with great interest. His ears were flat and the size of maple leaves while his yellow fur looked extremely fluffy in the cold wind. He shivered when the snowflake melted on the rock ground and wrapped his cloak tighter around his body. This one looked no older than ten and his blue eyes glanced back at Xerius again, who looked like he was sixteen or seventeen.

Xerius suddenly pulled a hand out of his cloak and pointed a black gloved hand east of the city without saying a word. The small boy behind him grinned big. "That way? Really? So cool! Katherine's told me stories on how he runs as fast as…"

He was cut off short when Xerius glanced back at him with a cold look.

"Oh right, sorry. Not giving secrets out to the world." The boy muttered, turning his attention to the bowl of stew in front of him. The flames flickered in his eyes while he licked his lips. "Dinner's almost ready, Xerius. Want some?"

Xerius said nothing still while the boy pulled two bowls out of the small string bag that was beside the cold rock he was sitting next to. Using the wooden spoon that was in the stew he stirred it around gently, sending an amazing mixture of spices and other good smells into the air. The boy's stomach grumbled as he poured some into the bowls.

"Hey Xerius, did you hear me?"

Xerius looked away from the sleeping city and sat next to the boy, accepting a bowl and eating out of it slowly while the boy shoved the food down his throat hungrily. As soon as he was done, he licked his lips before taking seconds.

Soon, the late dinner was over and Xerius helped the small boy pack up and get ready to move out. The two started moving in the direction Xerius pointed out earlier, the light of excitement never seeming to dim out of the younger boy's eyes.

"Oh boy! We're going to meet Sonic!"

Xerius rolled his eyes but still said nothing.

"And the Day of the Dead is gonna start soon!" The boy added excitedly, as if this news was some of the best in the world. "I can't wait!"

The snow from above seemed to fall heavier and covered them from the campsite they were at earlier's sight. It covered up the campsite and left nothing to show that there was any sign of anyone ever walking through here, not even footprints from the leather boots they wore.

_IN ANOTHER PART OF THE CITY…_

"Letter for you sir," A G.U.N. agent said as he walked into the dark room. The only source of light was from the large window in the front part of the room where a hedgehog stood silently before with their arms crossed.

When the hedgehog said nothing, the agent nervously went to the vacant desk next to the door before dropping off the note. He stole another glance at the hedgehog before leaving the room silently and quickly.

As soon as the agent was gone, the hedgehog turned away from the window. His crimson eyes landing on the letter the agent left. He strode over to his desk as if he owned the entire room—which he did—and picked up the letter. He opened it silently and pulled out the paper within, then read it, his eyes scanning over the neat and familiar handwriting.

_Shadow,_

_ I'm sorry but I'm not positive if I can come out for Christmas. The Day of the Dead is coming tomorrow and Windy will need my help. I bet you will need all the help you can get too so I have sent friends of mine over. Don't worry, they are both very strong warriors. Some of the finest we Light Givers have._

_ Merry Christmas brother and I'll be there as soon as I can._

_ -Katherine_

Shadow the hedgehog lowered the letter and glanced out the window again where snow was starting to fall lightly from. The Day of the Dead, huh? This was going to get interesting. Very interesting, very quickly.

"Very well," Shadow growled. "Let the dead come and we'll see if they can stop me."

**Chapter one is down! Thank you all for reading and review so I can know if this is worthwhile writing or not.**

**Zap "No reviews means no more of this story."**

**Katherine "And this is a great idea! So **_**please**_** review!"**


	2. And So it Begins

**Welcome to Chapter Two of Day of the Dead! Hope you enjoy this chapter (it makes more sense than the prologue) and don't forget to review.**

** Special thanks goes to the two people who reviewed on the Prologue and followed me over from Katherine's Tale: Skagui the sniper (huh, never thought of it like that but in ways, yes the other dimension is a bit like Earth in some weird, twisted way) and Maraya Prower (haha, here's your update! And hopefully everyone will be more careful in this story then in Katherine's Tale :P).**

**Disclaimer= I don't own anything SEGA. All that I own is Windy, Zap, Katherine, Xerius, and Xsus.**

**Chapter One: And so it begins**

_"Aw come on Sonic!" The voice of Amy Rose is heard. The one holding the video camera walked into the room where it featured Amy with her hands on her hips while pointing a finger angrily at Sonic the hedgehog. "I told you not to go running through the woods so things like this don't happen to you! What if it was a bear instead of a Leech Worm?"_

_ Sonic squirmed a little on Amy's blue couch, obviously not liking the attention everyone in the room was giving him. "Ah, lighten up a little, Ames! Although, if you want my opinion I'd rather run into a bear rather than go through this experience."_

_ Tails the Fox ran into the room, both of his tails spinning rapidly to help him run faster. He sat on the side of Sonic that wasn't visible to the video camera and looked at Sonic's unseen arm with a frown. "Oh… he's a big one. Hold still!" Tails lifted a bottle of Anti-Venom he always kept upstairs in his bathroom cupboard._

_ The camera moved around the room, revealing the faces of a grossed out Cream the rabbit and a wide eyed Knuckles the Echidna. The camera came to Sonic's other arm where it showed a long, white worm thing about four inches long attached to Sonic's arm, twitching every now and again._

_ "Windy? What are you doing? Go away!" Sonic pushed the cameraman named "Windy" away from him as the person behind the camera snickered. Tails poured some of the Anti-Venom onto the worm while a tall boy walked into the room, looking mildly bored and annoyed._

_ He had golden colored fur with dark blue eyes. A zigzag scar ran through the left side of his face and his arms were crossed as he stood next to Tails, looking at the worm like he saw these every day. "A Leech Worm again? Seriously, Sonic? How did you get _this _one?"_

_ Sonic laughed nervously while Windy turned the camera on him. "I was running through the woods… and so yeah."_

_ The newcomer looked at Tails as he scrubbed Anti-Venom around the worm where it was attached to Sonic's arm. After a moment, Tails looked at the person behind him and nodded. "Okay, Zap, your turn."_

_ Sonic paled. "Not as bad as last time please."_

_ Zap got a dark look on his face. "Oh don't worry… this won't sting a bit." He lifted his hands as lightning flickered in between his fingers, lighting up his eyes for a moment. "Ready for Dr. Zap to help you out?"_

_ "No," Sonic admitted._

Before it could go on any longer, Sonic shut down off the TV. He looked at his bandaged arm and sighed, remembering how painful that was. He decided to himself that if Zap ever opened a Doctor's office he would never go.

It had been almost a month since that incident occurred. Katherine, Windy, and Zap had gone back to their dimension and no one had heard from them, not even Shadow the hedgehog whose own sister was Katherine herself.

Sonic wrapped his arms behind his head and stared up at Tails' ceiling. He wondered why they weren't here. They normally visited at least once a week but why could they be gone for so long? He shrugged and closed his eyes… well maybe after a quick nap he would talk to Tails about making a dimension machine and hopping over to _their_ dimension for a change.

Suddenly, Tails ran into the room, his blue eyes gleaming and looking horrified. He raced right past the leather couch Sonic was on and raced upstairs by occupying the stairs next to the couch. Sonic opened an eye and frowned. "Was that… Tails?" He muttered to himself quietly. He shrugged again. If it was a problem that was serious and didn't involve being electrocuted then it wasn't his problem.

"Sonic!" Tails yelled somewhere upstairs. He sounded worried, seriously worried like the world was about to blow up by Eggman again kind of worried.

"Down here, Tails!" Sonic called, not even opening his eyes.

More trumping around then the padding of shoes running down carpet stairs could be heard as Tails flew down them. He hit the ground and turned to Sonic… who was resting peacefully on the couch like today was another typical snowy Saturday.

"Sonic!"

"What is it?"

"G.U.N. has been sending me hundreds of reports! Like from things to people they thought were dead taking over Station Square to some old Commander named Towers trying to overthrow G.U.N.!" Tails cried.

Sonic opened an eye and looked back at Tails in confusion. "Say what? With reports like that I can now prove to you G.U.N. is a crazy group of people to work with."

"Sonic! Now is not the time for you to say 'in your face'! This is serious!"

Sonic suddenly jumped to his feet and looked at Tails. "Well… what do you want me to do?"

"We should probably check on them." Tails explained. "Just to see if everything is all right and it's not Rouge again trying to fool us into another one of her games."

Sonic shuddered at the experience they had last time, trying to not remember the slugs on the bottom of that swamp. He shook his head and turned his attention to Tails. "Well? What are we waiting for? Let's go!"

"Not without me, Sonikku!" A new voice cried cheerfully.

Sonic face palmed. "Did you let her into the house, Tails?"

Tails paled. "She was going to hit me with her hammer if I didn't."

Amy Rose walked into the room, a big smile on her face and her piko piko hammer hanging over her shoulder. Beside her, Cream the Rabbit walked in next with her best friend Cheese floating beside her. Cream looked at the pictures on Tails' walls of all the adventures they had in the past before turning her attention onto the boys. A moment of silence passed until Amy tackled Sonic into a hug. "Oh Sonic! It's been forever!"

Sonic rolled his eyes. "I saw you yesterday." He grumbled as Amy hugged onto him like there was no tomorrow.

"So?"

"Alright, enough talk," Tails said. "We have to fly now or else… what if G.U.N.'s reports are right about the dead… then…"

Amy looked at Tails then let go of Sonic. "Wait, what's going on?"

"I'll explain on the plane," Tails said, running out of the room and towards the garage door. "Come on everyone!"

Sonic nodded and ran after Tails, only to be followed by a confused Amy and a worried Cream. The four climbed onto the X-Tornado, which took to the rare winter blue skies in a matter of seconds. The four flew in the air with Cream and Tails in the machine while Amy and Sonic stood on the wings of the plane.

Tails quickly explained to the girls what was going on and as soon as he was done Cream frowned. "Maybe Mrs. Katherine and Windy have something to do with this."

"I was thinking about that, Cream." Tails nodded. "But why would Katherine and Windy revive the dead without letting us know?"

Sonic coughed. "Don't forget my idea, that this is another one of Rouge's plans…"

"No its not," Cream suddenly said.

"What? How do you know?"

"I saw my great grandmother earlier today! She's at my house baking cookies with my mother! Isn't that great Cheese?"

"Chao!"

Sonic and Tails said nothing while Amy laughed. "Oh Cream!"

Cream frowned as they flew onward towards the direction of G.U.N.

-XXXXXXXX-

"Well that was a waste of time." Sonic muttered as they neared G.U.N. headquarters. "Who knew girls could get distracted by a big sale in Station Square in a time of emergency like this?"

Tails shrugged. "Beats me, but Amy looked really interested in those jeans."

Sonic laughed and then suddenly stopped when he smelled something in the air: smoke; lots of it from the direction of G.U.N. headquarters. The hedgehog turned his attention forward and saw a column of it rising into the air on the outskirts of the city.

"Tails…?"

"I see it, pulling in for a closer look!" Tails informed as he pressed the gas pedal and the machine flew forward faster than ever. Sonic crouched down to avoid flying off of it as G.U.N. headquarters appeared over the snowy treetops. He gasped when he saw the entire building in flames and smoke rising off into the sky from the fire.

As the plane dipped down for a closer look, Sonic heard a disturbing sound: gunshots. He lowered his emerald eyes towards the burning building. Did someone go on a rampage within G.U.N.? What was going on here? It did explain why it was on fire though.

Then, out of the side of the building, a golden blur shot forward, out of the fire. It slowed down before it hit the tree cover and Sonic blinked when he saw that it was none other than an out of breath Shadow the Hedgehog.

"Shadow!" He called down and the hedgehog looked up at his rival with narrowed, crimson eyes before glancing at the burning building before him again.

Then, out of the building, a man raced out of it. He wore a G.U.N. uniform but his greasy white hair gleamed in the sunlight. He held a machine gun in his hands and was racing as fast as he could towards the ebony hedgehog.

Shadow lifted a fist angrily "Get out of here Towers! You're supposed to be dead! You died twenty years ago!" He roared as the man ran forward with his machine gun. He had a crazed look in his dark eyes as he ran forward.

"Come here Shadow so _I _can do what I want to you!" Towers laughed hysterically in a crazy voice. The voice sent chills down Sonic's spine while Shadow turned and made an impressive jump high into the air. He landed on the X-Tornado's wing opposite from Sonic and looked down while the man named Towers lifted his gun at the plane.

"Get us out of here, Tails!" Sonic yelped as Tails pulled down a switch. The turbo engines came to life and shot the plane forward while Shadow glanced back at Towers as his shots missed their targets. Sonic glanced over at the hedgehog and swore for a moment he saw rage, fear, and sadness flash through Shadow's eyes all at the same time but disappeared too quickly for Sonic to be sure they were there.

Shadow stood up as soon as the building and Towers were out of sight then crossed his arms. "Take me to the mountain." He said gruffly.

"Hey, that's no way to say thanks." Sonic said, wagging a finger at Shadow.

Shadow glared at him and Sonic sighed in defeat while Tails turned the machine towards the mountain outside of the city. After a few silent minutes Tails landed the X-Tornado outside of a large, dark cave Sonic had never seen before. As soon as it touched down, Shadow hopped off of it and moved towards the cave while Tails scrambled out of the plane.

"What's going on here, Shadow? Why is Commander Towers around? Even you said that he's supposed to be dead. And, heck, who even is he?" Sonic demanded as Shadow stopped at the entrance of the cave.

Shadow glanced back as a form of blinking red lights appeared behind him. Out of the shadows a familiar robot known as E-123 Omega walked out. His hands were machine guns like the one Towers held. He pointed the machines at Sonic and Tails.

"SHOULD I DESTROY THE USELESS LIFE FORMS?" Omega asked Shadow.

Shadow lifted a hand and Omega lowered his guns. "The Day of the Dead is here." Shadow said darkly. His crimson eyes flashed towards the smoke from G.U.N. headquarters. "And it'll be here for an entire week."

"Day of the Dead- what?" Sonic asked.

Rouge the bat suddenly walked out the cave, yawning. "Home sweet home, I suppose... oh hey! Sonic, hun! Good to see you!"

Sonic grinned. "Hey Rouge. What are you guys doing out here in the cave?"

Rouge winked. "Sorry Sonic, top secret information."

Sonic sighed and looked at Shadow. "So what do you know about the day of the dead, Shadow?"

Shadow looked at the ground by Omega's feet. "I got a letter... from Katherine. She didn't explain what it really was. All that I understand is that the dead come back to life for awhile. However, Katherine did mention she sent two people from her dimension over to help us out."

"Maybe it's Zap and Windy!" Tails offered hopefully.

_I hope not_. Sonic thought to himself with a frown and a quick glance at his bandaged arm.

There was a sudden sound of something exploding and the group turned towards the city in surprise. They saw a pile of smoke rising into the sky and the faint sound of hundreds of people screaming was obvious. Rouge groaned. "Great! Now people are blowing up Station Square too!"

"Oh, Station Square," Tails said. "Good thing no one we know is there."

Sonic paled and Tails suddenly seemed to realize his mistake. Both boys turned towards each other in horror. "Amy and Cream!"

Team Dark stared as Sonic and Tails booked it to the plane. The two boys hopped in and Sonic turned to Shadow, Rouge, and Omega. "Come on!"

Shadow raised an eyebrow. "I think I'd be doing much more damage here."

Rouge sighed. "Come on, boys! We might as well find out more about this Day of the Dead! Besides, Katherine's friends might be in there."

Shadow grumbled something as he stepped onto one of the plane's wings. Omega climbed on next to him while Rouge climbed into the back seat with Tails. The plane lifted up into the air and Sonic winked at his rival. "Glad you could tag along!"

Shadow glared at Sonic. "I'm only here to find Katherine's allies, Faker. Nothing more nothing less. The rabbit and the pink hedgehog could die for all I care."

Sonic sighed. Shadow was still the same as ever, even if he did get chased by some old time commander named Towers.

The plane flew through the sky, heading towards Station Square.

** Chapter One down! Thanks for reading and review please or else I won't post chapter three! And if you don't Zap will shock you like he did to Sonic. Either that or he'll let Leech Worms get you! Jk on the second one. Even I think that's horrible but still review!**

**Next chapter has an old enemy no one remembers, Xerius, and the boy from the prologue. Anyways, see you when the next chapter comes around! (And don't forget to review. Just press the nice blue button below, it won't kill you.)**


	3. Return of the Dark One

**Welcome to Chapter Two! Special thanks to Maraya Prower for reviewing on the last chapter so **_**this**_** one could come out. Keep in mind: No reviews equals no Chapter. So, prove to me you're liking this.**

** Maraya Prower= Yeah haha, I think the term: "be careful" is now about to be thrown out the window thanks to this chapter. And Leech Worms, ha, thank you Windy for recording that.**

** Disclaimer: I don't own ANYTHING That's SEGA's. All that I own are the characters Xerius, Windy, Xsus, Katherine, and Zap.**

**Chapter Two: The Return of the Dark One**

The X-Tornado touched down in the middle of Station Square and Rouge the bat, E-123 Omega, Shadow the hedgehog, Tails Prower, and Sonic the hedgehog scrambled off the plane before looking around for signs of life.

"Wow, this place looks like a dump." Rouge commented.

"Somebody who went through here must've left already." Shadow said as he crossed his arms. Sonic stood next to the hedgehog and his eyes scaled through the broken windows and burning remains of the shops that used to be around here.

Tails pulled out a small box from his tails with a frown. He started pressing button on the machine before looking up and around. "If anyone's still here they're dead. My machine isn't picking up any life."

Omega's gadgets whirled. "STARTING SEACH. PLEASE WAIT."

The group waited for only a moment until Omega was done. The robot turned around and looked up (seemed to) at the tall building in the center of Station Square. The animals around him turned and looked up too towards the top of the building.

"FOUR LIFEFORMS UP THERE." Omega stated. Sonic's eyes glanced up to the very top of the building where he did see four Mobians standing and looking down on the crew.

"Sooooonic!" A familiar voice wailed. "Help us!"

"Amy! Hold on! I'm coming!" Sonic called upwards to her.

"I don't that's going to be an option, Sonic." An unfamiliar voice answered back. Sonic felt shivers run down his spine when he heard that voice. Something told him he was supposed to recognize that voice... but he didn't. He glanced up and saw a misshapen dark hedgehog with blue and purplish spines. It had yellow reptilian eyes and no noticeable nose or mouth, but Sonic could swear it was smirking down at him. Next to the hedgehog tied up in ropes around the lightning rod of the building was Amy Rose, Cream the Rabbit, and Cheese, Cream's best friend.

"Who are you?" Sonic called up angrily.

"You're worst nightmare." The hedgehog laughed darkly. His voice seemed to echo around them, not even sounding like a real voice. "But if you _must_ know who I am, I am the known as Mephiles the Dark."

"Mephiles," Sonic repeated. The name sounded familiar. So very familiar. But he couldn't figure out where he heard it before. He turned to the others and they all looked the same as he felt, especially Shadow. "Have we met?" Sonic called up.

Mephiles chuckled. "Of course... you forgot because you and Princess Elise erased my entire existence but thanks to the Day of the Dead, I'm alive. And thanks to the Chaos Emeralds, I'll stay that way!"

"Princess Elise?" Sonic frowned. She was that princess lady he saw a few years back doing the festival of light, right? He never officially met her though, so why did this Mephiles guy claim they had before?

"Maybe this will refresh your memories," Mephiles pulled out a red Chaos Emerald from out of thin air. Shadow growled as he recognized the trick, it was something Katherine enjoyed doing with her own emerald. That was fairly her move. "Chaos Control!" Mephiles cried and sudden images flashed through everyone's minds. When the images passed, Sonic pressed a hand to his head to stop the searing pain of memories flooding back into him mind.

"You!" Shadow growled when the memories had passed. "You're supposed to be gone, permanently!"

Mephiles smirked. "Yes me, and you cannot stop the darkness. It sweeps in slowly and controls when no one is looking. I am the same way as I am controlling your friends!"

"Leave them alone!" Sonic yelled.

Omega lifted his guns. "READY TO FIRE."

"Is it a fight you want, little robot? Very well. I'll fight you, kill you all, gather the Chaos Emeralds, and then rule this world without anyone to stop me!" Mephiles said, showing a very scary grin as he stepped off the top of the tower. Dark energy seemed to surround him and carry him down to the ground gently. He lifted a fist towards the group and laughed. "You cannot stop me! I am part of the Iblis, therefore I am eternal!"

Tails paled. "I don't think we can win, Sonic!"

"We have to try." Sonic growled.

Mephiles grinned as small knives seemed to grow out of his skin. He lifted them up for everyone to see. "Are you ready to die!"

"Bring it on!" Sonic yelled as everyone around him prepared for battle.

Mephiles lunged but then stopped when someone dropped down lightly before him. Eyes locked and Mephiles backed up quick as the person stood up tall, flicking their long tail irritably. Mephiles growled angrily. "Who are you?"

The newcomer said nothing as he glanced back at Sonic and his crew for a second, locking his brown eyes with everyone before turning his attention to Mephiles. His dark brown spots seemed to shine out of his light brown fur as he lifted a fist. The dark hedgehog's eyes narrowed as the person flicked his wrists and three claws the size of butcher knives shot out from his knuckles. Except, they curved slightly outwards so they didn't hit the ends of his fingers, making them an ultimate killing weapon if he clenched his fists. A growling sound came from the person's throat as Mephiles lifted his own knives.

"You want to play, do you?"

The boy said nothing, showing Mephiles his wrist knives; the look on the boy's face seemed to say: _let's play._ Both of them lunged at each other and the boy seemed to vanish and reappear behind Mephiles but the dark hedgehog was prepared for the attack. Knives swung at each other and sparks flashed as both of them seemed to fly up the side of the tower.

"Who is that cute boy?" Rogue said, something in her voice sounded almost wistful.

"I think it's our help from Katherine." Shadow said with a faint smile on his face as he watched the two seemed to vanish and reappear on another rooftop.

Sonic looked up at Amy, Cream, and Cheese in worry. He was about to go over and help them out when he noticed someone up there already. "Who's that?" Sonic wondered as he squinted, looking upwards at the top of the building.

_At the top of the building..._

"Who are you?" Amy screeched as the boy jumped over. His big, yellow ears were like sails caught in the wind as he hopped over and started untying the rope behind the two girls and chao. He grinned at Amy when she stared at him in worry.

"Don't worry! I'm a good guy! I'm here to save you!" He said, grinning big.

Amy blinked as the boy pulled a pocket knife out from somewhere in the folds of his cloak and snapped all the ropes off. As soon as all the ropes were gone, Cream stumbled and let out a cry as she started to fall.

"Cream!" Amy cried, lifting a hand out to catch her when suddenly the boy was next to her and grabbed Cream by the hand before Amy could.

"Are you okay, pretty girl?" The boy asked, his big blue eyes locking with Cream's eyes. Cream felt her cheeks turn a bit red and she smiled at this strange boy who called her pretty.

"I'm fine! Thank you for saving me, mister!"

The boy pulled Cream back onto the top of the building and the group looked at the ground, that seemed to be miles below them. "How are we going to get down?" Amy asked the boy.

The boy frowned and put a finger on his chin thoughtfully. "Um... I don't know. How did you guys get up here?"

"You don't know? We got carried up here by Mephiles!" Amy said seriously, like this was an obvious answer but that didn't seem to faze the boy.

"That's silly! Why did you get carried up here?"

"He came from behind and grabbed us! We were just shopping like everyone else was and then he picked us up, blew up everything, carried us up here, and then tied us up!" Amy cried. She glared at the boy angrily. "For a savior, you're pretty dimwitted."

"What does dimwitted mean?"

"Don't say that, Amy!" Cream cried, turning to Amy angrily. "This boy was nice enough to save our lives! How dare you call him dimwitted. He's anything but dimwitted! He risked his life to come up here and save us!"

The boy blushed and rubbed the back of his head, embarrassed.

Suddenly, someone ran up the side of the building and stopped. The boy looked over in surprise as Sonic the hedeghog stopped next to him. "Are you guys okay?"

"We're safe, thanks to this boy!" Cream smiled.

"Chao, chao!" Cheese agreed as he flew around in circles over the boy's head.

Sonic looked back at the blue eyed boy with a frown on his face. "He saved you guys... huh? Never seen you before. What's your name, kid?"

The boy put his boot behind him as if he was going to take a step back and looked at the ground. He muttered something under his breath before speaking up. "Um... Xerius doesn't want me to give any information out to anybody but some people named Sonic and Shadow the hedgehog... top secret information... sorry..."

Sonic laughed. "But _I'm_ Sonic the hedgehog!"

"You are?" The boy's eyes lit up. He stuck a hand out to Sonic excitedly. "It's an honor to finally meet you, sir! I'm Xsus! Is it true you can run really fast? I mean I thought Chase back out home base is fast since he can run twice the speed of sound but when Katherine said you run _faster_ I didn't believe it. Do you really hate water? Why is that? I'm sure you haven't even tried swimming! You know, I taught Xerius over there to swim and he's _terrified_ of water!"

"Wo, wo, hold the phone." Amy lifted a hand. "Katherine? You know Katherine?"

Xsus frowned and his cheeks turned bright red. "Um... that is, I said... um... yes? Oh! Xerius is going to kill me for talking too much..."

"Haha don't worry," Sonic said as he looked over at Mephiles and the spotted boy named Xerius fight still. His face turned deathly serious. "We need to get out of here before Mephiles notices that we're getting away with his prisoners!"

"Okay!" Xsus said. He suddenly picked up Cream wedding style and grinned. "How are you going to get down, Sonic? Are you going to run?"

Sonic picked up Amy the same way Xsus picked up Cream. Both girls' cheeks started to turn red while Sonic winked at Xsus. "You bet I am!"

"Alright! I'll fly!"

"You'll... what?"

"Watch!"

The boy ran towards the edge and hopped off with such ease one could think he was hopping down the last two steps of a flight of stairs. Amy cried out and Cream let out a scream of fear but both girls stopped as they realized Xsus was _floating_, not falling. He turned and looked back at Sonic with confusion in his eyes. "Are you coming?"

Sonic blinked in shock and shook his head. "You ready Amy?"

Amy wrapped her arms around Sonic then giggled. "Take me away!"

The hedgehog raced down the tower and slid to a stop next to Tails, Rouge, Omega, and Shadow. Shadow frowned as Cheese floated down next to Sonic the hedgehog. "Where's the rabbit and the person that was up there?"

Xsus landed gently next to Sonic and the look on Shadow's face was priceless.

"THE SMALL CREATURE CAN FLY." Omega stated.

Xsus laughed and placed Cream down gently beside him. Cream smiled. "Thanks, Mr. Xsus!"

"Just call me, Xsus, please." Xsus smiled, blushing ever so slightly and rubbing the back of his head again.

Then, landing silently next to him was the one named Xerius holding Mephile's red Chaos Emerald in a fist. Xsus turned towards Xerius and quickly looked away.

"So," Sonic moved up to Xerius and held out a hand of welcome. "You must be Xerius?"

Xerius said nothing and glanced at Sonic's hand. He turned a hard look onto Xsus and Xsus lifted his hands. "He's Sonic the hedgehog Xerius!"

Xerius seemed to calm down and he shook Sonic's hand. There was a moment of silence until Xerius let go of Sonic's hand, still not saying anything. Xsus coughed and sighed. "Well, this is Xerius, and he wants me to tell you he says hello."

"Why doesn't he say so himself?" Amy wondered.

Xsus flinched as Xerius turned a hard eye onto Amy. Amy felt like melting into the cement ground beneath her to hide from the harsh look. After a moment, Xsus coughed. "Xerius doesn't talk. He hasn't talked in years."

A long moment of silence was heard until Shadow crossed his arms. "Did my sister send you two? She claimed you were some of the best fighters she had."

Xsus nodded. "That's us! Are you Shadow?"

"Yes."

"Oh my gosh! You're Shadow _the_ hedgehog? That's so cool! Katherine told me how you two used to hang around on the ARK with..." Xsus stopped short when he saw Xerius glaring at him. Xsus sighed and looked at the ground. "Not giving secrets out to the world." He muttered.

"Where's Mephiles?" Sonic asked with a frown.

Xerius blinked and looked at Sonic, saying nothing while Xsus sighed. "Xerius said that he ran off after ditching his emerald."

"How do you know if he didn't say anything?" Amy asked Xsus.

"Hey! I can read facial expressions!" Xsus said, sounding offended by Amy's question.

Rouge sighed. "Are you kids done arguing?"

"I am not a kid!" Amy cried.

Xsus on the other hand did a hand pump in the term of a _yes!_ He turned to Xerius with a grin. "Told you I was a kid!"

Xerius rolled his eyes.

"We should head back to somewhere safe." Tails said. "Who knows if Mephiles is going to come back and try to kill us while we're distracted?"

"Do you have a place you're offering?" Shadow turned an eye onto Tails.

"My workshop will work for now." Tails said. "Come on, I think the Tornado will be able to fly everyone there."

Soon, everyone was flying high through the sky. Shadow looked at the silent Xerius next to him and glanced at his knuckles, where they showed no signs of any knives ever being there. He frowned and looked out into the distance. _His knives must be one reason why Katherine sent him here. But what about Xsus? That boy is a complete fool and too young to be fighting this war against the dead. The rabbit is no different._

As the tornado flew through the sky, Shadow couldn't help but get a bad feeling of where this was going to end.

**Dun dun! Okay, this chapter is done and so is the first day of the day of the dead! Can they survive the next six days? Stay tuned...**

** Katherine "And don't forget to review!"**

** Xsus *giggles* "Or Xerius will stare you down 'till you do!"**

** Xerius *glares***


	4. Secrets Revealed

** Hello people and welcome to Chapter Three! Okay, I'd love to do some more introductions but I think I'll let my wonderful OCs give you all a warm welcome and thank the reviewers for today!**

** Xsus "Thanks! Okay! Hi people and welcome to the next chapter! I hope you're all enjoying your day and I know I am! It's all partly cloudy outside and... oh sorry! Going off topic. Anyways, special thanks to the reviewers Maraya Prower and raeweis! Give them a round of applause folks!"**

** Xerius *slow clap***

** Maraya Prower= Xsus "Aw you're so sweet! BlackSandHeart showed me your story yesterday and I really liked it just as much as she did! And if we all survive the next six days then maybe I can see my first happen ending! :D. Thanks again for reviewing, if it wasn't for you reviewing on every chapter upload in Katherine's Tale I might not be here talking to you today!"  
****Windy "So if everyone stays at **_**least**_** 60% alive... hey Zap!"**

** raeweis= Xsus "Thanks! I'm really liking this story too- well that might be because I'm in it though. And I wish I knew why Xerius never talks, you know he's never talked to me before. I've told him a bunch of stuff about me but he's never told me one single thing."  
****Xerius "..."  
****Katherine "Hopefully we'll figure out why you don't talk much in this story."  
****Xerius *looks away***

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything that SEGA's. All that I own are Xerius, Xsus, Katherine, Windy, Zap, and Sierra the Vile. Taking any of these characters is just sad to me so **_**don't do it**_** without my permission!**

**Chapter Three: Secrets Revealed**

Sonic the hedgehog paced back and forth angrily. He looked at the carpet floor beneath his red and white shoes as he paced around. He then turned his attention up at the garage door, that was wide open and showed Tails as he worked on a machine furiously. Sonic cracked a smile, he always worked when he wanted to get his mind off of something and now was the perfect time until Amy and Cream brought Xsus back from a quick shopping spree.

Both girls had claimed Xerius and Xsus' clothes were ridiculous and they needed to be changed out of the black clothes, boots, and cloaks into something more original before any information on why they were here was exchanged. Xerius came home early and no one could get a word out of him to find out why Amy, Cream, Cheese, and Xsus weren't home yet. They hadn't been gone for long, maybe an hour, but Sonic was getting impatient. He had been waiting for his questions to be answered since yesterday when Tails insisted everyone to go to bed.

Sonic looked back at Xerius who sat on the couch with his eyes closed and arms crossed. He now wore tan colored pants that strangely matched with his light brown fur. He had a white shirt with a black, oval, spot in the center of the shirt. He managed to keep his black boots on his feet, which were crossed and resting on the coffee table.

There was the sound of footsteps on the roof and Sonic didn't even glance up at the ceiling. Shadow the hedgehog must've made it onto the roof again and was keep a look out for any more dead people. E-123 Omega was standing, deactivated, by the front door and Rouge was sipping out of a cup of coffee she poured for herself.

"Rouge?" Sonic asked, coming to a stop next to her.

"What's up, hun?" Rouge turned her gaze onto the blue hedgehog questioningly.

"Why didn't you go shopping with the girls?"

Rouge glanced over at Xerius and swore she saw one of his cat ears twitch. He was listening in on the conversation. "Well..." Rouge found herself having a hard time talking. "I- I uh..."

Sonic gave her a confused look. Since when did Rouge ever have a hard time talking to anyone? She normally managed to keep her cool in any type of situation but apparently not when it came to the subject of talking about shopping. Rouge coughed and forced herself to look at Sonic. "It's just that I don't like Amy's style. I mean, come on, pink dresses? How on Earth is she going to help Xsus pick out suitable clothes?"

The blue blur nodded, and Rouge secretly let out a sigh of relief that she managed to say it without stuttering anymore. She glanced again at Xerius, who's eyes were still closed. As Sonic walked away, she angrily shook her head and turned her attention back onto her coffee.

Suddenly, the door opened and Xsus walked in with his hands behind his back. He whistled as he walked into the house. He wore tan shorts like Xerius did and black boots. His light blue shirt had dark blue shapes at the bottom that ended up making a wavelike pattern across the bottom of it. "I like your house Tails!"

"It's a workshop too!" Tails called back. He sighed as he dropped the tools he was holding and walked out, whipping his gloved hands on a towel. He stood next to Sonic while Amy, Cream, Cheese, and Shadow walked into the house.

Shadow stood on the back side of the room away from everyone while Xsus took a spot on the couch next to Xerius. The spotted cat opened an eye and sat up as everyone gathered around them, even Omega who woke up from shut down mode.

"Okay, first on the agenda..." Tails said. "What's the Day of the Dead?"

Xerius glanced at Xsus, who coughed nervously. "The Day of the Dead is actually a week. It's where the dead from the last hundred years or so come back to life for an entire week. As Mephiles was saying, using the seven Chaos Emeralds brings them back to life- permanently. So, since we have one it'll mean all the baddies are going to come after us for the last one to stay alive."

Shadow frowned. "Is it just the bad ones of the past that come back?"

Xsus glanced at Xerius, who gave him a thoughtful look. Xsus nodded and looked at everyone. "Um... from what Xerius says, no. Good guys come back to life too so I guess we're going to have to guess who's good enough to come back and who's not."

Sonic glanced over at Shadow and could almost see the gears in his head turning. He didn't know what Shadow was planning, but whatever it was it probably wasn't a good one.

"Does the Day of the Dead happen every year?" Tails asked questionably.

Xsus shook his head. "No, it only happens once every five hundred years and its only the people within the last hundred years that come back to life."

"That explains why Cream's great grandmother is at Cream's home making cookies." Amy said thoughtfully.

Xsus smiled as he looked at the ground. "Those were the best chocolate chip cookies I have _ever_ had."

Cream giggled. "I told you they were the best!"

The two shared eye contact and smiled while Sonic sighed. They stopped by Cream's home too? He turned to Xsus. "So, how are you guys able to fly?"

Xsus grinned. "Oh that? That's easy! We just use our energy stored in our bodies to help... pick us up in a way... oh! I know that sounds confusing but it works!"

Sonic shrugged. He heard weirder explanations.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door and everyone turned to the door. Xerius flicked his wrists and his claws shot out of his knuckles again. Sonic shook his head at Xerius while the spotted cat stole a glance at him.

Xerius frowned and flicked his wrists again, extracting the claws.

Rouge looked at everyone and pointed herself. Cream frowned. "Be careful Miss Rouge!" She whispered as Rouge flapped her wings and silently floated over to the front door. She grabbed the door handle and threw it open, throwing her fist out the door... only to have it stopped by a hand.

"What? What's going on here!" Rouge pouted as she looked at her captor and gasped. "Oh! It's you, Knuckie! And... you two too."

Sonic ran up to the door. "How's it going, knucklehead?" He chuckled as Knuckles the Echidna walked into the room proudly. Following him were two more familiar echidnas known as Shade and Tikal.

"Oh! It's good to see you guys again!" Cream smiled as she ran forward. Xsus stood up and nervously watched as Cream shook Shade's and Tikal's hands excitedly before they gave hugs to each other.

"Who are they?" Xsus turned to Omega and Shadow in confusion.

"TIKAL THE ECHIDNA GUARDS THE MASTER EMERALD WITH THE POWERFUL BEING KNOWN AS CHAOS AND ALSO WITH KNUCKLES. SHE IS OVER A THOUSAND YEARS OLD. SHADE THE ECHIDNA WAS PART OF THE MISSING ECHIDNA GROUP THAT WAS TAKEN TO A DIFFERENT DIMENSION FOR UNKNOWN REASONS. SHE IS ALSO OVER A THOUSAND YEARS OLD. KNUCKLES IS ALSO A GUARDIAN OF THE MASTER EMERALD AND IS NOT AS OLD AS SHADE AND TIKAL." Omega explained.

"Wow! Cool! So Tikal and Shade are like immortals?" Xsus asked.

"They're anything but." Shadow growled.

"So, they're not like Windy and Zap?"

"What about them?"

"What? Did they not tell you they were immor-" Xsus didn't' finish his sentence because Xerius swatted him on the side of the head.

Shadow stared at Xsus while he rubbed his head. "Woops, sorry." He said, smiling weakly.

Xerius rolled his eyes as Shade moved up to Xerius. "Are you Xerius? Tikal told me a bit about you. I am Shade, guardian of the Master Emerald with Knuckles and Tikal."

Xerius shook her hand and neither noticed Rouge giving Shade death looks.

Knuckles took a seat on the now vacant couch. "Yeah, yeah, we're here. Wish it was for a less dire of a situation. Tikal came here with an important announcement that concerns all of us."

Tikal coughed and smoothed out the folds of her dress. "I am Tikal, if Xsus and Xerius did not know."

"So cool! Hey Xerius, she knows our names and yet she's never met us!" Xsus said excitedly, turning to Xerius.

Tikal smiled kindly at Xsus. "Yes... the Master Emerald showed me a vision of the two of you on the mountain after you first appeared. You two have a very important part to play in the future for this week of the dead rising. However, that isn't why us echidnas are here. We're here to warn you that Chaos has gone crazy again with rage. For reasons, I know not of. It might be because of the disturbance of balance between life and death. Therefore, he is another enemy you must keep an eye out for as well."

Tikal lowered her eyes. "However, Chaos is my friend... so try not to hurt him. Attack only if he attacks first. He will most likely go after the Chaos Emeralds like every other dead thing on this planet is doing. He is made out of water, keep that in mind so it might be hard to stop him."

"He sounds cute!" Xsus said cheerfully. "How can something that cute be so dangerous?"

"Same can be said about you." Shadow said seriously.

"Shadow!" Amy scolded.

Xsus laughed. "Oh! He's right, I'm just full of happiness and smiles."

Cream smiled as he hopped onto the coffee table and wielded out an invisible sword. He grinned at everyone. "Katherine once challenged me to a sword fight you know. It was a brilliant fight but of course Katherine won... she is the master behind swords after all! However, I say, nay! Windy and Zap have been sword fighting for all of eternity making them more excellent sword fighters than she!"

Xerius face palmed.

Cream applauded while everyone else looked at him in confusion. Xsus bowed and turned to Tikal with a grin on his face. "I'd love to help you guys out and stop Chaos, and every other dead thing that threatens the safety of the universe. I promise to help guard the Chaos Emeralds we have with us currently."

Sonic grinned. "Glad you can help, Xsus."

"Are you helping us, Knuckles?" Cream turned to the echidna on the couch.

Knuckles shrugged. "I got a Master Emerald to guard. I don't have time to help you guys out. I've helped with people from another dimension once. I'm not going to do it again and stopping the dead while I'm at it."

"Come on, Knuckles," Amy said darkly. "Just admit it, you don't want to help because you don't want to get your butt whooped again."

"Yeah... by a bunch of dead people." Cream added.

Knuckles frowned. "What? No!"

Sonic grinned. "Maybe old knucklehead can't handle being beaten up again."

Rouge sighed. "Poor, poor, Knuckles."

"ALRIGHT! FINE! I'll help!" Knuckles roared.

"Great!" Sonic grinned. "Glad to have you on the team, Knuckles! Shade, Tikal, do you guys want to help too?"

"Gladly," Tikal dipped her head politely.

"It will be a great honor to serve you again, Sonic." Shade said seriously.

"Xerius?" Sonic turned to the silent warrior.

Xerius nodded.

"Great! Everyone's ready to help out! Now we should probably start doing a search for Chaos before he gathers any emeralds and turns into a bigger threat." Sonic grinned.

Suddenly, there was another knock on the door and everyone froze. They looked at the door and before anyone could move, Shadow Chaos Controlled silently next to the door. He grabbed the handle and then threw the door open.

As soon as the door opened, everyone, except Shade, Xerius, and Xsus, gasped in shock. A girl stood before them with short green hair and flowers in them. She held a glowing green Chaos Emerald and the light reflected in her blue eyes. Her dress looked like a green and white flower petal and she frowned. "Am... am I in the right place? Sorry to intrude."

Tails felt tears run up into his eyes and he bit his lip before choking out: "Cosmo?"

** Cliffhanger! Everyone, please do a collective gasp.**

** Everyone (but Xerius) *gasps***

** Thank you! Anyways, see you when the next chapter comes around and don't forget to review. That's right follow the nice arrow down to the review button. Katherine, please show them the way.**

** Katherine "Alright people, here's you arrow! Just follow it down so you can review. Keep in mind that if you don't review the next chapter doesn't come out so show your support!"**

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	5. Chaos Unleashed

**Hello readers! Welcome to Chapter Four in the series and this is an action chapter as everyone struggles through the Day(s) of the Dead. A very special thanks goes to raeweis and Maraya Prower for reviewing the chapter so it could come out! Also, sorry for the delay. I ran into some homely issues that involved a fridge breaking and a large spider (no I'm not over exaggerating the thing was bigger than a **_**QUARTER**_**) so I couldn't upload as soon as I wanted. Anyways... enjoy!**

**raeweis= thanks, I tried to make that one entertaining but I really didn't like how things were turning out in the last three chapters. So I worked hard on this one and its starting to go back on track, thank the Light Givers. And I'm actually quite pleased I caught you off guard with Cosmo coming back, I was trying to do that haha. Thanks again for the review and now you can eagerly await no longer! (until this chapter ends :P)**

**Maraya Prower= I know! I was so happy to have Cosmo back as a character! She's on my list of favorites. Anyways, good thought about talking on the inside, Xerius does seem aware of the situations that everyone's going through so that proves that he understands how to communicate. Maybe everyone should try focusing on their energy to hear him speak (and yes. It would be so much easier if he just talked).  
Xerius *glares***

**Disclaimer= I don't own anything that's SEGA's. If I owned SEGA then I would read fanfiction to get new and fresh ideas for my games. However, I **_**do**_** own Xsus, Xerius, Katherine, Windy, Zap, and Sierra.**

**AN- I had a question on how to pronounce Xsus it is actually pronounced Xs-us and Xerius is X-ear-e-us. Hope that cleared things up! :)**

**Chapter Four: Chaos Unleashed**

_Xsus' POV_

"Tails!" Sonic the hedgehog scolded. The tone of his voice was obvious that he was getting irritated with the lovebirds in the front of the X-Tornado.

I glanced over, enjoying the feeling of the wind in my face as I flew alongside the plane. Sonic was glaring at Tails Prower, who was laughing at something his old friend (friend, ha like any of us believed that) Cosmo had said as she sat in the seat directly behind him. They both looked like the two happiest people I had ever seen.

We were flying off towards open farmland where Xerius saw the water creature known as Chaos attacking the farmland on the news this morning, day two of the Day of the Dead. Well... days if you want to be specific... anyways, although no pictures of the monster confirmed it being there, everyone agreed to head over just in case with our two Chaos Emeralds if Chaos became too big of a threat.

Then, I saw someone trying to get my attention out of the corner of my eye. Behind the seat Cosmo was in, Cream was waving at me. I smiled and lifted a hand while Cream giggled then Xerius flew alongside me and swatted me on the side of the head again for what felt like the millionth time that day.

"Ow! Xerius!"

Xerius gave me a look that said _stop getting distracted._

"Sorry..." I grumbled.

Shadow the hedgehog stood silently next to E-123 Omega and the robot kept getting annoyed when I would ask it simple little questions.

"So... where are you from?" I asked the robot while rubbing the side of my head.

The robot made a grumbling sound from somewhere inside of it. "NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS XSUS, DIMENSION JUMPER."

"Ah, what? Come on! Can't you give me a hint? Oh! I know, I know! We can make a game out of this. Give me a hint! Give me a hint!" I begged.

Omega made another sighing noise while Shadow glanced over at me. He looked irritated but also... a bit amused by my behavior. "LEAVE PUNY CREATURE."

"That's not nice." I scolded the robot. "I am not puny. I happen to have a big heart."

Shadow glanced at the robot as Omega sighed again.

Knuckles the Echidna chuckled as he leaned against the cockpit of the ship, obviously enjoying Omega and mine's little argument.

"Okay, enough bickering." Sonic said to us. "We're here."

I glanced down at the ground far below me and secretly thanked the universe I didn't have a fear of heights anymore. Far below me between the tops of the mountain were tiny specs of cars, buildings, farmlands, and even smaller things that indicated they were people. However, a bit farther north and I saw smoke rising from the remains of farm buildings. It had caught the farmland on fire too and I had the sudden urge to stop the fires.

I managed to stop myself when I looked at Cream again. I took a breath as Tails dipped his plane and Xerius and myself dived down. I hit the ground and rolled to my feet while Xerius landed silently next to me. Not too much farther away the X-Tornado straightened out and skidded to a stop alongside the road, stopping a half mile away.

Xerius looked at me. _Come on,_ his face said as he started walking towards them, his feet leaving behind little footprints on the snowy ground. I laughed at the sight and started literally following Xerius in his footsteps.

Xerius' foot was much bigger than my small ten-year-old feet. However, that didn't stop me and I didn't even know Xerius stopped until I crashed into him. "Oops, Sorry." I said to him as Xerius glared at me.

We stood in front of the plane where everyone was hopping off of it silently. Cream ran over to me with her friend Cheese and she jumped up and down. "Where do you think Chaos ran off to, Xsus?"

I put my hands in my pockets, nervous about Cream's question for some outrageous reason. "Uh.. I don't know."

Tails frowned as he looked at the burning farm field before us. "Omega, do you think your scanners can pick up a location where Chaos ran off to?"

"STARTING SCAN... PLEASE HOLD." Omega stated.

We all waited for a moment... except myself and Cream. We got distracted by a patch of ice on the ground and started ice-skating in our shoes. Xerius glanced back at us, rolled his eyes, and looked back at Omega.

"SCANNERS COULD NOT FINE THE CREATURE NAMED CHAOS." Omega stated after a long moment.

Rouge stomped her foot angrily. "What? Couldn't fine it? Great! Now what are we going to do?"

Tikal clasped her hands together. "Chaos probably doesn't want us to find him. That could explain why Omega cannot find him."

I glanced at Xerius as he suddenly walked forward. I grinned, Xerius saw something! I stopped skating and Cream ran into me, resulting both of us falling into the snow with a powdery explosion. We laughed as we sat up and Xerius pointed towards the flame.

"What... are you doing?" Knuckles asked.

Xerius glanced at him, sighed, and then marched towards the fire.

"What's he doing?" Knuckles turned to the rest of us in confusion.

"Finding Chaos!" I chirped happily. Everyone glanced back at me with confused looks as I pushed myself out of the snow. I turned to Cream and started helping her to her feet as I continued. "He has these weird moments where he just _knows_ where things are and how things are going to turn out. It's like he's physic or something!"

Sonic grinned. "A physic, huh?"

Tikal put a hand on her lips. "The Master Emerald did not show me this..."

"Come on!" I said as I started following Xerius. "He'll lead us to Chaos himself. Watch!"

Cream started following me and in the end, that resulted in everyone following the silent one as he moved towards the flames.

Suddenly, Xerius stopped, and did a back flip as a blast of... was that water? Anyways, water shot out from who knows where and smashed into a burning tree. The tree started tipping over and I grabbed Cream and yanked her out of the way as everyone dived for cover.

Xerius growled angrily and turned his attention to the flames. Out of the fire and into the snowy field, a strange creature walked out. It had claws, glowing green eyes, and I could see its brain, eww. I made a face while everyone around me jumped to their feet.

"Chaos!" Tikal cried. "Please! Get a hold of yourself!"

Chaos turned its glowing green eyes onto her and then lifted a clawed hand. A spray of water shot out of it and Shade the Echidna yanked Tikal out of the way before it could smash into her. "Don't let the water touch you!" Shade yelled out to the rest of us.

Everyone else went into action and I found myself paralyzed. That thing... it could use _water_. It controlled it like... like... like it owned it. How on _earth_ could I top something like this thing? Xerius was going to do a better job with his claws then with what I could do.

Cream ducked behind me. "Do something, Xsus!"

"I-I..." I stuttered.

I watched Sonic smash into it, but fly right through it. As Sonic slid through the snow, Shadow jumped up and Chaos Speared multiple times at it. When the smoke cleared, a clawed hand shot up and wrapped around Shadow's throat and threw him into a tree.

Xerius hopped forward next, he lunged at the monster, extracting his claws and slicing at the creature. He did leave a mark but to mine, and probably Xerius' too, water replaced the mark like it never happened. Chaos then punched my silent friend in the jaw and Xerius flew backwards into the air and slid to a stop next to Shadow as he slid down from the tree.

"Hey! Pick on someone your own size!" Knuckles yelled as he charged. He started making multiple punches at Chaos, but all of his punches went right through it. Chaos finally got annoyed with Knuckles' attacks, punched him, and I watched him crash into Sonic as the hedgehog stumbled to his feet.

Omega launched multiple bullets, missiles, everything he had at Chaos and that did nothing too. Omega managed to avoid Chaos' counterattack as Rouge the bat did a kick in the back of its head, which did nothing too. Rouge flapped her wings and managed to avoid Chaos as he spun around. Tails tackled Chaos but went right through him before getting kicked into a tree.

Amy Rose, Cosmo, Shade, and Tikal charged forward after that, Amy with her hammer held high and the other three girls lifted their fists. Cream hopped out from behind me. "Amy! Cosmo!"

"Chao chao!" Cheese cried.

Cream and Cheese ran towards the two charging girls and I felt my heart stop beating. "Cream! Stop! No!"

Chaos smashed right through Amy's hammer like it was made of pudding and Chaos shoved her out of the way. Cosmo made a very sad punch and I instantly knew that her strengths in a battlefield was not in hand to hand combat. Chaos smashed her out of the way and kicked Shade in the gut before punching her away. He smacked Tikal out of the way then turned to Cream as she held up Cheese like a dangerous weapon.

Chaos lifted a clawed hand and picked her up the same way he did to Shadow. I closed my eyes and realized I had to help. Sitting here wasn't going to help. But what if Cream didn't like how I fought in a battlefield? Well, it didn't matter. I'd rather have her happy and alive then dead and cold. I was going to fight fire with fire.

"Hey you!" I yelled at Chaos. Chaos turned its glowing green eyes on me and I swallowed my fear nervously. "Put the girl down!"

The creature of chaos looked at me.

"Don't make me come over there!"

Chaos dropped Cream, much to my surprise then charged at me.

"Okay, okay, stay calm, Xsus." I said to myself as I crouched down, my hands outstretched to my sides as if I was going to fly towards him. I glanced at the snow around me and then turned my attention back to Chaos. Ten more feet... five more feet... now!

I stood up quickly and lifted my hands into the air. I felt the snow underneath me shift and change, falling to my will as the snow shot up and smacked Chaos in the face. Instead of going through it like every attack before did, the frozen water smashed into Chaos and the creature flew back into the fire. I raced forward and flicked a hand upward as more snow flew off the ground to follow me.

Chaos stumbled out of the fire as I lifted a hand in his direction, in the same gesture someone would use to smack someone in the face. The water shot away from me and then did an uppercut to Chaos, the creature flew backwards and crashed into the ground.

However, Chaos was ready for that one. It jumped to its feet and we both charged at each other. Chaos shot a blast of water at me and I lifted a hand out. The water exploded in different directions as soon as it was a few inches away from my hand.

I then got close enough and tackled Chaos. "I'm the... ruler... of water... bud..." I growled as we rolled over on top of each other.

_Shadow's POV_

So this was why Katherine sent the little boy over. He controlled the water. It was obvious to see as he lifted more snow and slammed it into a stunned Chaos' face. I struggled to my feet with a hand at my throat, feeling as if Chaos' claws were still wrapped around it.

Sonic struggled to his feet as well beside me, pushing a half conscious Knuckles off of him. He looked at Xsus and then turned to me. "Well... we got a water controller here, a boy with claws... what else do they have in that other dimension?"

I said nothing as I noticed Xerius pushing himself out of the snow. He glanced over at me and then at Sonic before standing up. His claws were still out and they gleamed in the dim sunlight there was around this time of year.

Knuckles grumbled something as he struggled to his own feet along with the Faker. We all turned our attention to the small boy as he was fighting Chaos... and was winning. A ten year old boy was beating a protector of the Master Emerald who was older than any of us. How humiliating that had to be for Chaos. I smirked at the thought while Xerius flicked his wrists, and the claws flew back into his knuckles.

Suddenly, there was the hum of an engine in the air. My ears twitched at the sound because I recognized it, even though I hadn't heard the sound in years. I looked into the sky and saw a small, triangle shaped plan dive out of the sky towards the two fighters. I looked at Chaos and Xsus and wondered what was going to happen to the winning boy.

"Xsus get out of there!" Sonic finally yelled.

Xsus froze and noticed the plane as it dived towards him. He launched himself into the sky just in time as the fighter plane opened fire on Chaos. We watched as the thing disappeared behind the smoke of bullets and when the smoke cleared, nothing was there. I gritted my teeth angrily as I realized that Chaos got away.

The plane touched down and I crossed my arms. Xsus touched down near the nose of the plane as Cream cried out and tackle hugged him into the snowy ground yelling something about him being her hero. The glass cockpit opened out and the pilot took off their helmet and my heart stopped for a moment. I heard a gasp escape from Rouge's mouth.

She had dark red hair tied up in a pony tail and her blue eyes were scaling all of us thoughtfully. When those eyes finally rested on me, they lit up with recognition. "Shadow?"

I swallowed as everyone looked back at me but managed not to do what Tails did when Cosmo appeared at his doorstep, cry and run up to her. However, Rouge couldn't resist. She flew up to the top of the machine and hugged the girl.

"Oh Rouge! It's so good to see you!" The girl said as she hugged Rouge.

"You're alive again, Molly!" Rouge cried.

"Molly?" Knuckles frowned as Molly hopped out of the plane. She marched up to me and smiled down at me while I looked up at her seriously.

"Here, Shadow, this is for you." Molly bent down and handed me a blue Chaos Emerald. I looked at it and looked up at Molly in surprise.

"What... what are you doing here?" I managed to say quietly. "It's dangerous here."

"I'm with my crew and we're fighting off the Meterex... they're back too you know. And this time we all decided on fighting against them again." Molly said to me seriously.

I gritted my teeth. "The Meterex are back?"

"Yes... oh... I can't stay for long Shadow I have to go back and help my team. It was good to see you again, I had to stop by and make sure everyone was okay. You stay safe you hear me?" Molly hugged me right then and there and after a moment I returned the hug.

"I... I will." I said quietly.

Molly let me go and ran back to her plane while everyone else stared at me in shock. As she jumped in she looked back at me. "Oh, I forgot, some girl was looking for you, Shadow."

I frowned. "Who?"

"I don't know, she was nice though. She had blond hair, blue eyes, blue dress on. Her grandfather fixed my plane when I crashed landed not too far from their camp." Molly explained. "Anyways, I'll see you soon, okay, Shadow?"

I nodded as the plane shot off into the air moments later. Molly was alive again... but for some reason that didn't calm me down at all. Knuckles turned to me. "You know her?"

"Yes."

"What about the girl she was talking about?"

I frowned. "No," I lied. "I don't know... who she's talking about."

Sonic gave me a funny look as I crossed my arms angrily, indicating that the subject on the matter was closed. They all looked at Rouge, who said they would tell them later.

As we stood silently in the burning farm field, Tails offered to go back to his workshop and take it easy for the rest of the day, which sounded good to everyone. No one wanted to think about the fact that the Meterex were back in this fight, if they were then our case got much worse and our chances of survival dropped.

As we flew away from the burning land, I thought about what Molly said to me. _"I don't know, she was nice though. She had blond hair, blue eyes, blue dress on. Her grandfather fixed my plane when I crashed landed not too far from them."_ She had told me. My eyes glanced out into the distance and I frowned.

_Katherine, why aren't you here when I need you the most?_ I thought to myself.

**Okay, another chapter down. The next chapter holds another fight scene, a not so new face, and a trip to Xsus' past with his water abilities. Stay tuned for more!**

**Zap "Keep in mind... **_**no reviewing means no more of this story. **_**That's right. I said it. What are you going to do about it? That's right, REVIEW."**

**Windy "A little dark today, aren't you?"**

**Zap "What? I had to intimidate them into reviewing!"**

**Katherine "Enough bickering you two."**

**Zap "Bickering? YOU ARE ACCUSING ME OF DOING SUCH A CHILDISH THING?"**

**Katherine "Uh... no."**

**Me "Okay all of you, cut it out. Please review before Zap rage quits on all of us!"**


	6. Alien Invaders

**Okay, I posted this one up because I realized I made a fatal mistake! I forgot to thank a reviewer named Guest for reviewing two chapters ago and raeweis reviewed to the last one so I thought, hey! Why not? So, this chapter is up for today too. Besides, I still kind of owe you guys one for the spider and fridge incidents- haha.**

**Guest= Hi there! Never seen you around before (I think)! You should make an account on here and write your own stories on here! I'm sure you'd do a good job! Anyways, I'm glad you love my stories I worked hard on all of them and Xsus over here is screaming with joy that someone thinks he's adorable… I mentioned in the last chapter that his name is pronounced X-s-us right? I hope you saw that. Thanks for reviewing on this story (and sorry I forgot to thank you in the last chapter- my bad!) And I'm glad you're happy that Cosmo's back, she's a favorite of mine. Here's another chapter you can read and don't forget to review again (reviews are like Band-Aids when you get hurt).**

**Raeweis= Hello again! I'm glad you love this story. I'm enjoying it myself and I'm writing it- how that works don't ask me. Molly was a great character to bring back so I was glad of thinking about her. Yeah, and water abilities for Xsus. He is described for having a "bubbly" personality at points and its only logical that he can do it, besides I always liked the water, even if I'm not a fan of swimming. Where did Xerius and Xsus come from? Well, one day I was thinking of awesome names that started with X and Xerius popped up, and I thought it was the **_**coolest name ever**_**. Xsus on the other hand, I was writing the prologue to this story when I was trying to think of a good name for the boy. I was going to do Sam but I picked Xsus instead because that named kind of popped into my head too. It originally started off as Xus but I thought adding another S into it wouldn't hurt so that's where that name came into play. Ha- I just gave you an entire history lesson but that's where they came from. Thanks again for the review and just ask any other questions you are wondering!**

**Chapter Five: Alien Invaders**

_Cosmo's POV_

"Good morning, Cream!" Xsus yawned as he walked into the room.

"Hi Xsus!" Cream said cheerfully.

I looked up and over at the strange blond boy as he took a vacant seat next to my friend. Cream smiled as Xsus showed her a grin. "Only four days left until this nightmare is over with!" He said cheerfully. Then he noticed me. "Oh, hi Cosmo!"

I smiled and dipped my head politely. "Hello, Xsus."

Xsus pulled a pancake off of the plate that was full of them. Amy had made pancakes for us earlier. "Nice winter weather we're having, huh?" He asked me.

I smiled. "Yes, it is quite nice. It is quiet and peaceful when the snow is falling outside. It muffles out the sound of fighting."

Xsus nodded. "Yeah, and it also leaves marks behind."

I frowned. "Marks?"

"Yeah, like footsteps, you know? It covers all the bad things people do."

My frown turned into a thoughtful expression. "I never thought of it like that."

Xsus smiled as he took a bite of his pancake. He chewed on it thoughtfully before twitching one of his large ears. "Someone's coming." He said, looking at the door.

Suddenly, the front door opened, letting in a cold blast of wind. We all looked over and saw Knuckles walk in with Shade and Tikal the Echidnas. The three were balancing the Master Emerald carefully and somehow managed to fit it through the door. They set it down in the front room and Knuckles grinned. "Now _that's_ how you move precious cargo."

I looked at everyone else in the room and saw Rouge the bat's eyes gleam. "Oh my! Knuckie, did you bring that for me?"

Knuckles glared at her. "Of course not!"

Rouge pouted and I watched her eyes glance over at the couch, where Xerius, Sonic, Tails, and Amy were watching TV; except their attention was on the TV screen watching the news and Rouge quickly glared at Knuckles again.

"No fun." Rouge muttered and she took a seat next to me.

Cream frowned at her. "Are you okay, Rouge?"

Rouge glanced at her. "What? Of course! Knuckles doesn't want to give the emerald to me as usual..."

"That's not what she means." Xsus was grinning.

Rouge's face suddenly turned red. "I don't know what you're talking about."

I frowned. "I'm sorry, but am I missing something?"

Xsus' grin grew. "Oh what? You haven't said anything about how you like..."

"Shhh! Xsus!" Cream giggled. "Let's not spoil her secret yet!"

I frowned, wondering what they were talking about but decided to rub it off while Rouge's face was bright red. She turned to them angrily. "You better not tell anyone, you hear me?"

"We won't." Xsus grinned.

"Promise." Cream chimed in.

I laced my fingers together and looked at the pictures on Tails' workshop wall. There were hundreds of them but the closest one that was recent was one of two girls. One had very long ears with a blue diamond in the center of her head while the other one had dark gray fur and forest green eyes. Both were in a car and were arguing with each other while Shadow the Hedgehog was in the background rolling his eyes while Rouge was laughing next to him.

I smiled and looked at Cream. "Cream, who are those two girls in that picture over there? I have never seen them before so why are they on Tails' wall?"

Cream looked at the picture and smiled. "Oh them? That's Katherine and Windy."

"Some of the best fighters in my dimension!" Xsus added in.

I frowned. "What are they like?"

Xsus glanced at a glass of water and dumped it on the counter. Cream, Rouge, and myself blinked in surprise as Xsus made strange hand gestures until the water made a strange circle in the middle of the counter. "Watch," He said to me. "I'll play a memory on this."

"How on Earth can you do this?" Rouge asked with a frown.

Xsus winked, "Practice, lots and lots of practice."

Then, images appeared in the picture. In it, I saw the girl with long ears and the girl with dark fur from the picture standing in front of a large glass door. To the side of the picture, a younger version of Xsus walked forward, he couldn't be more than six of seven.

"You know," The long eared one said. "They say that the lake outside is the purest in the universe."

"Whatever!" The dark colored one argued.

Xsus pointed at the long eared one. "That's Katherine. The other one is Windy, and that guy is me!"

"Wow! You look so small, Xsus." Cream smiled.

I looked at the picture while the long eared one turned to the other one. "Why? Do you have an argument to make?"

"I've seen purer water." Windy argued.

"Where?"

"Canada of course."

Katherine face palmed. "At the human planet? That Canada? Where at?"

"Niagara Falls, duh."

Katherine gave Windy a look while the girl stuck her tongue out at her. The younger version of Xsus walked forward and Katherine turned her blue eyes onto the small boy. "Xsus? What are you doing here?"

"I've seen purer water!" Xsus said in a tiny voice that made me smile. He was extremely cute for a little boy.

"Oh yeah? Where?" Windy said, not even looking at him.

"Outside of course!" Xsus said.

"Aha!" Katherine cried, pointing at Windy with a grin on her face.

Windy threw her hands in the air in disbelief and the image dissolved. I looked up and around realizing that everyone else in the room had gathered around to see the memory. Sonic laughed. "That's defiantly Katherine and Windy for you."

Shadow the hedgehog shook his head as he walked away.

Cream giggled. "I hope they come back soon."

Sonic paled. "What? No! I just got my bandage off." He glanced at his arm, where the bandage had been removed, revealing a normal looking arm. We all looked at Sonic with a serious look and Sonic sighed. "Okay, okay, fine. I guess I can deal with them coming back."

All of us laughed and then stopped short when we heard a rumbling sound. Xsus' ears twitched at the sound. "Sounds like an entire armada is coming for us!" He said after a moment of silence, he lifted his empty plate in the attempt of making a shield.

Then, the door broke down and hundreds of beings raced in. They had strange heads and skinny bodies with robotic red eyes. They had claws on the end of their hands and I found myself gasping for breath. "It's the Meterex!"

"Get the Master Emerald and the Chaos Emeralds too!" A robotic voice echoed. Then, walking into the room was a tall robot. It was a dark blue color and its eyes were a soulless black.

It looked around the room as Sonic hopped forward angrily. "Narcissus!"

"Ah! Sonic! How nice it is to see you again, did you miss me?" The Meterex named Narcissus chuckled. I remembered him being second in command to the Meterex's leader: Dark Oak.

"Hey! Get your claws off the Master Emerald!" Knuckles growled as he punched the invading Meterex. However there was too many of them and some managed to grab hold of the emerald while everyone else struggled to stay alive.

"Xsus! They're getting away with the Master Emerald! They must be planning on doing something awful!" Cream cried.

Xsus lifted a hand and the water image flew off the table and sliced a Meterex's head clean off. He charged at the rest of them while Xerius flicked his wrists, extracting his claws and slicing at them. "Get the emerald!" Sonic called as he spin attacked Narcissus.

I raced forward and shoved Meterex invaders out of my way as I raced for the emerald. I suddenly felt someone lift me up from behind and I glanced back to see Tails picking me up. His twin tails were spinning rapidly and he gave me a grin. "Need a lift?"

"Thank you Tails!" I smiled back at him.

Underneath us, a large Chaos Spear flew through the enemy, eliminating them all in a single blow. I looked over and saw Shadow throwing his Chaos Spears angrily as he tried to get to the emerald.

We were winning the fight though, knocking down enemy Meterex and pushing them out the door. I frowned when I realized Tails' workshop was falling apart. I looked back up at my friend with a frown. "Tails, your workshop...!"

"Don't worry about it! I can always build another one!" Tails smiled at me. He dropped me down on top of the Master Emerald and that knocked it out of the grip of the enemy Meterex. I turned to Knuckles. "Knuckles! I got it!"

_Sonic's POV_

I dived to the ground as Narcissus swung a fist right where my head would be. If I hadn't dodged that I would now be a headless hedgehog. I rolled away as Narcissus then tried to stomp on me with his metal feet.

Shadow rolled next to me and Chaos Speared at Narcissus. Narcissus managed to side step it but fell backwards over his own allies. Shadow turned to me. "We have to get out of here!" I yelled at him. "They're going to get away with the emeralds if we don't!"

Shadow nodded and looked thoughtful. "I have an idea."

"What is it?"

Shadow didn't answer. Instead he ran off towards the Master Emerald that Cosmo and Tails were standing on top of. I groaned, well, that's Shadow for you! I jumped to my feet as Narcissus turned to me. "You cannot win!"

"We'll just have to see about that!" I yelled as I swung a fist at him.

Narcissus blocked the punch and chuckled darkly again. "I managed to convince Dark Oak that you fools are still a threat to the galaxy. He might _think_ he's doing the right thing but in real life he isn't."

"Wait," I frowned. "Dark Oak is on our side?"

"Correct, as soon as you fools defeated us, Earthia came and convinced Dark Oak that what he was doing was wrong. However, when the Day of the Dead finally came, I managed to convince him that you were all a threat again! Now, prepare to die, Sonic the hedgehog!"

Suddenly, a bright light surrounded us before he could swing. I covered my eyes as I heard Shadow call out: "Chaos Control!"

Then, the light faded and I found myself facing a rock wall. I backed away from it, and crashed into someone because of how dark it was. "Ow!" The familiar voice of Amy cried out.

"Oh, sorry Ames." I said.

"Sonic? Is that you?" Amy cried. I suddenly felt someone tackle me in a hug and I felt the air getting squeezed out of me.

"Amy...stop! You're... crushing... my... ribs!"

"It's dark in here." The voice of Xsus muttered.

"Ah! Sorry person I just ran into." Rouge suddenly said. "Oh... uh... hi Xerius!"

Shadow's voice suddenly called out. "Everyone stay calm. Omega, turn on the lights."

There was a moment of silence then bright lights shined down on all of us. I squinted as my eyes adjusted to the lights where I saw a TV, three couches, a large kitchen, and three doors all inside of a large cave.

I looked around, slowly getting an idea in my mind. This had to be the cave that I saw earlier when Tails and myself picked up Shadow, Rouge, and Omega long ago. I whistled as I saw electric lights on the roof of the cave and rugs below me that made up a carpet. "Wow, nice place, Shadow."

Shadow glared at me. "Don't touch _anything._"

Xsus frowned as he stood before one of the large empty couch with Cream hugging onto him tightly and Cheese sitting on his head. "But I'm touching your floor."

Shadow glared at him.

"Okay, okay, I know what you mean!" Xsus sighed.

Knuckles picked up the Master Emerald and put it in the corner of the room and put the blue, red, and green Chaos Emeralds we found around it.

"Hey Knuckie," Rouge called, standing next to the silent Xerius. Both of them stood in front of the sixty-nine inch plasma TV. Knuckles turned to look at her as Rouge tossed him a purple Chaos Emerald.

Knuckles caught it in surprise and looked at her. "Where did you get this?"

"One of those Meterex jerks had it so I took it from him." Rouge said plainly.

Knuckles frowned. "Are you feeling well Rouge?"

"Yeah, why?"

"You just gave me a Chaos Emerald. A _Chaos Emerald_ and you didn't keep it for yourself." Knuckles said slowly.

Rouge frowned. "So?"

Xerius looked at her with a frown and then looked at Knuckles. Knuckles noticed the movement and sighed. "Rouge is a treasure hunter and a thief. She takes anything that's shiny."

"So what if I gave it to you?" Rouge yelled. "It doesn't mean anything!"

Knuckles lifted a fist. "I just wanted to see if you were okay that's all! You never give me any of your treasure."

"Well I am fine! So you can quit bothering me!"

"Fine!"

"Fine!" Rouge huffed. She opened her wings, almost smacking Xerius in the face in the process, and flew off towards one of the doors. She opened it up and slammed it shut behind her. Xerius glared at Knuckles.

"What?" Knuckles demanded.

"Xerius said you should've dropped it." Xsus said as he sat down on the couch with Cream.

"Oh who's side are you on?"

Xerius flicked his wrists, removing his claws, and walked away towards the left hand side of the room where a faint light flooded it, that was probably the only way out of this cave, meaning the argument was over.

I blinked and looked over at Knuckles. "You should've dropped it."

Knuckles rolled his eyes, obviously irritated that this argument was still going on. "Whatever."

Tails took a seat on the couch next to Cream and looked at everyone. "Well... I guess this is where all of us are staying until the Day of the Dead is over. Anyone got any ideas on what we should do?"

No one said anything and Cosmo sat down next to Tails. Tails nodded and turned on the TV. "Alright then, let's just sit here and wait."

"Wait..." I repeated slowly. "Oh joy."

**Another chapter down! Next chapter has… oh… uh… right. Sorry, Xerius is giving me one of his looks so I won't say anything. Anyways, next chapter gets exciting with information that will knock you over backwards with shock!**

**Katherine "Don't forget to review or next chapter won't come out! Thanks again to everyone before for reviewing!"**

**Zap "Now quit reading and review already!"**

**Windy "What is it with you today?"**

**Zap *shrugs***

**Xerius *rolls his eyes***


	7. The Silence has Spoken

**LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, children and people older than think that they're able to stand up to Sierra's wrath and etcetera, etcetera. Welcome to chapter SIX one of the most shocking chapters known to the universe! Anyways, a very special thanks goes to the reviewers: Guest, raeweis, and Maraya Prower. Thank you guys for reviewing therefore you get a hug from one of your favorite OCs: Xsus.**

**Xsus "Yay!" *hugs everyone half to death* "Review again soon please!"**

**Xerius "….."**

**Raeweis: I know you're on vacation right now probably so you won't get this in a **_**long**_** while but I'll thank you anyways. Anyways, see? I hated the Meterex too they were so annoying and popped up in the most inconvenient times ever, like in the story. Come on, they just broke into Tails' workshop, entirely inconvenient. Yeah, haha, Shadow has a Man Cave. Zap laughed when he saw that so maybe he does have a bit of Xsus in him :P And this is one exciting chapter.**

**Guest: I love Cosmo and Tails pairing too! I never liked how people put Cream and Tails together (I always thought that was really weird and awkward besides Xsus and Cream work out a **_**lot**_** better). Aw, sad that your mom won't make an account. Maybe one day you can talk her into making one so I can read your stories someday. I liked having Xsus be a hydrokinesis it just seems to fit him in a weird way. And yes, your crazy-for-romance senses are correct. Rouge is hiding something along those lines. And yes again! No mistakes, I love it when that happens, it means I'm not being a blond for once- haha. Thanks so much for reviewing my friend :D**

**Maraya Prower= Haha, you've reviewed so many times I've memorized your pen name, and that's a good thing :P. Hehe, yeah his attitude. Yep, Molly is back so who other dead person do you think will come back now (yes, before Xerius glared at you, you were going on the right track). And Xsus over here is saying that you're awesome too for always reviewing! Thanks for the review!**

**DISCLAIMER= I don't own ANYTHING, that's right, ANYTHING that's SEGA's. All that I own is Ria, Jason, Chase, Xsus, Xerius, Windy, Zap, Sierra, and the three professors not mentioned yet.**

**Chapter Six: The Silence has Spoken**

Shadow the hedgehog closed his eyes as he sat quietly on the couch. He glanced out the nearby exit of the cave with a frown. It had to be past midnight and he still hadn't seen the silent one come back yet.

Shadow looked around the front room. The three rooms had all been taken. Normally used for himself, Rouge, and Omega. Rouge and Omega's rooms had been taken over by all the girls and Shadow offered up his room to Sonic, Knuckles, Tails, and Xsus. He refused to sleep with them though. He knew he'd be tormented for hours if he had so he slept out here on the couch while Omega was in shut down mode across from him next to the TV.

The hedgehog stood up and slowly followed the long, cold path outside. Once he was outside, he looked around but didn't see the silent one anywhere. The cold midnight wind cut through his fur as he saw the lights of the city far below him.

The view of the city reminded him of looking down at Earth from the ARK. That of course reminded him of what Molly said long ago now. He frowned as he looked down at the city. Was it possible that it could be... her? No, no, although it did make sense. She didn't die a hundred years ago, which would mean that she had to be here for the day of the dead. The problem though was: where? Where was she?

There was the sound of someone dropping down behind him and Shadow's ears twitched. He looked back and saw Xerius standing there silently, his arms crossed and his gaze looking over the sleeping city. The hedgehog frowned. "What are you doing out here? If you have nothing better to do then you should leave."

Xerius turned a hard eye on Shadow. There was a moment of silence and Shadow's eyes widened when he heard a voice. It seemed to come from nowhere but from everywhere. _"I'm here to make sure the Light Givers hero's little brother doesn't get himself killed."_ Xerius smirked as soon as the words faded. _"You should see the look on your face. You look ridiculous, Shadow the Hedgehog."_

Shadow growled, trying to hide his shock. "I thought you couldn't talk."

Xerius glared at him. _"I can. I just choose not to. You're the first person I've talked to since my sister disclaimed me from my family. Even Xsus back there has never heard my voice, even if this is an echo of it. Most people call this kind of talk telepathy."_

"Telepathy?" Shadow narrowed his eyes and looked out over the hills, his mind spinning. Why would Xerius talk to him?

Xerius stood next to him. _"What's your plan, Shadow? I've seen your mind at work for a long time now. Maria won't save herself you know."_

Shadow growled angrily again. "Who gave you the idea about me saving Maria?"

_"I see more then you will _ever_ understand."_

Shadow sighed in defeat. "I cannot trust you with my ideas."

_"Neither can I trust you with mine. But we have to change that if you don't want Maria to die a few days early, Xsus and Cream to die a painful and bloody death, and Sonic suffering through the insane asylum for the rest of his life."_

Shadow smirked. "That won't happen."

_"Oh? And you're telling that to the boy that just _happened_ to know where Perfect Chaos was?"_

Shadow said nothing. This boy was extremely clever. Not in the ways that made Eggman and Tails clever, but in his own strange way. Xerius on the other hand said nothing for once, his eyes scanning the horizon.

"What's your plan?"

_"I can see into the future. And I have a plan... it's dangerous. But Katherine told me that you used to make and do dangerous plans."_

Shadow looked at Xerius and said nothing. Xerius on the other hand did something he rarely did- talked some more. _"Maria is walking through that city right now with a few other people that look like professors. Mephiles is about to spring a trap that was meant for Amy, Cream, Shade, and a few other people to lure the rest of us into the plan. However, once he catches Maria he'll kill her because she has her own Chaos Emerald. That moment when he lifts his claws to kill her, we strike."_

Shadow became thoughtful. "Are you sure?"

Xerius only looked at him.

"Very well, let's go."

Xerius floated off the ground with his arms still crossed. Shadow then flew down the hill as fast as he could run and Xerius focused on his energy before shooting down after him. As the snow continued to fall, it soon covered their footprints, making it impossible for anyone to know if they had ever been there in the first place.

-XXXXXXXX-

Xsus yawned as he opened his eyes. It was still dark, being in the cave, but his body told him it was morning. He sat up and looked around, seeing that the other boys were already gone from Shadow's dark room. He sat up and his ears twitched when he heard Knuckles' voice.

"Can you believe it? Only three days left of this disaster." He said cheerfully.

"Since the Chaos Emeralds can give people their life again maybe we can do it to you, Cosmo." Tails said hopefully.

"Are you sure that wouldn't be a problem?" Cosmo's surprised voice asked.

"Of course not!" Cream said. "We all love having you be here, Cosmo."

Xsus sat up straighter when he heard Cream's voice. Well, that just made it every reason for him to get out of bed. As he scrambled out of bed until he heard a voice that made him freeze. He looked back in fear as the voice spoke up. "Well, it's good to know this tradition can end in a good way after all."

Chase. That was Chase's voice.

Xsus stood up and opened the door and glanced out the door nervously. Everyone looked over at him in surprise and Cream's eyes lit up. "Xsus! You're awake!"

Xsus walked out the door as Cream ran up to him happily. He looked past her at the people that were sitting on the counter and recognized the three new ones.

One was a girl with pink fur. She had a pale blue circle in the center of her forehead and her blue eyes flashed with their own kind of power. She had a long catlike tail but her ears were flat like a dog. She smiled when she saw Xsus. She wore brown winter boots, a white shirt, and tan pants that were tucked into her boots. "Hello Xsus! It's good to see you again!"

Ria. That was her name. She was a good friend of Katherine's and was well known for her special lightning ability in their dimension. Zap was the one that taught her how to use her magic. Ria was the nicest of the three to him.

Xsus smiled. "Hi, Ria."

Cream pulled him over to the large kitchen table as Rouge continued making French Toast on the stove. She looked back and smiled. "Mornin', Xsus!"

"Hello, Rouge! Why are you cooking toast?"

"I can't see why not." Rouge winked at him and continued cooking. Knuckles was giving her a funny look as he sat down at the table next to Sonic, Tails, Cosmo, and the other two people from Xsus' dimension.

Xsus took a seat next to the next one named Jason. Jason had kind hazel eyes but when he got mad enough they actually turned into the color of fire. He had dark grey fur that was a bit lighter than Windy's. His ears were the most bizarre thing ever, they stretched out to a good inch above his head then branched off into four little points, similar to antlers. He wore black boots, a white t-shirt with a red X in the middle of it, and dark gray cargo shorts. Jason looked over and dipped his head to Xsus as he took a seat next to him.

"Oh look, good morning, squirt." The final of the three people said, Chase. He was the fastest thing alive in their dimension. Katherine argued that Sonic was faster but Xsus had seen Chase fight Xerius once and this boy was _fast_. Fast enough to keep up with Xerius' attacks. He was a light gray covered boy with black colored hands, feet, tip of his tail, and ears, that stretched out as far as Jason's and dipped down like a dogs like Ria's did. He wore a black shirt, boots, and his cargo pants were the exact same as Jason's was.

"Hello, Chase." Xsus grumbled.

"Good, now that everyone's acquainted, what's the plan?" Amy Rose said as she took an empty spot next to Sonic.

"Well," Jason said, being as leadership like as he always was. "I was thinking we'd sit here and just guard the emeralds. Every dead thing needs them to come back to life, right? So, if we just hang out here, knock out he baddies that come up here then we'll be fine!"

Xsus frowned. "What if the enemy overruns us though?"

"Then we teleport to a new place. It's that simple." Jason explained.

Xsus said nothing as Cream frowned at him. She had never seen him this quiet before. It was almost as if he didn't like or get along well with the three newcomers from the other dimension. They arrived only an hour earlier saying that the Day of the Dead was almost over in the other dimension and that Katherine and the others were going to hop over soon to help them out.

"Are you okay, Xsus?" Cream asked.

"I'm fine." Xsus muttered.

"Hey... has anyone seen Shadow or Xerius lately?" Rouge asked as she flipped the toast.

Amy frowned. "I haven't seen either of them since last night."

"Me too." Cream added.

Suddenly, a paper appeared in the air and floated down on the table. Xsus and Chase's eyes flashed on the paper and both of them jumped on the table to grab it.

"I saw it first!" Xsus cried

"Did not! You know it totally belongs to me!" Chase growled.

"No it doesn't!"

"ENOUGH!" Ria yelled, slamming her hands on the table as the paper floated down quietly. As soon as it touched the table, Xsus grabbed it.

"Haha!" He said to a stunned Chase as Xsus started reading the words on the paper.

"Well? What does it say?" Knuckles asked.

Xsus paled as he read the paper. "Xerius wrote it! Apparently he and Shadow went off to Station Square to save..." There was a moment of silence and everyone leaned towards Xsus as his eyes grew to the size of dinner plates.

"Maria Robotnik?"

***GASP!* Maria? She's back? Stay tuned for more in the next chapter of Day of the Dead!**

**Katherine "Don't forget to review!"**

**Zap "Please review. Or else this story will not continue."**

**Windy "Make it sound all dramatic why don't you?"**

**Zap "..."**

**Xerius *glances over at Zap***

**Zap "What?"**

**Xsus "He said you should give me some ice cream!"**

**Xerius "..."**

**Xsus "Fine... he didn't, but I still want some! If you review to this chapter I'll share some with you! Hurry and review please!"**


	8. Reunited

**Hello my friends! Welcome to Chapter Seven of Day of the Dead and thanks to my friend: Guest for reviewing. Without Guest, this chapter wouldn't come out for your enjoyment! So everyone reading this secretly thank her. Also special thanks to her, she's broken my record of how many reviews I've had compared to all my other stories!**

**Guest: Yes! I love it when I finally get people hooked on my stories. It always gives me a smile and wants me to make the story twice as better then it was. And if Cosmo gets to stay that would be amazing (can't tell you if she can or not, it'd ruin the story :P). She's such a fun character to read about. Xsus and Cream are turning out to be one of the cutest couples I've ever seen, if you want my opinion. Yeah, I like how Xerius is like that too and the way he talks makes him twice more mysterious then he was before. THANK YOU FOR THE REVIEW! I really wanted to post this chapter up because of the action in it.**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own ANYTHING that's SEGA's. The only thing that I own is the Dimension Jumpers and the three professors not yet mentioned.**

**Chapter Seven: Reunited**

Mephiles the Dark smirked as he ran his gloved hands across the knotted ropes. His yellow, catlike eyes drifted up for a moment and he shook his head before looking at the ropes before him. "No, no, nothing more needs to be done my friend. This is _perfect_."

The demon looked thoughtfully at the masterpiece before him and then suddenly frowned. "Except this spot... right here."

There was the slashing sound of knives and the knotted ropes Mephiles had frowned at were now shreds. Mephiles carefully picked up the ropes and tied them to separate parts of his very large net. He glanced over at his companion. "Very good job, Metal Sonic. I didn't know you were a master at the knives."

Metal Sonic's red eyes glinted. He looked a bit like Sonic the hedgehog that had gone entirely Eggman style- that is to say robotic. His blue paintjob color made that much obvious and instead of Sonic's skin color normally was at, it was a silver metallic color. Where his stomach was supposed to be at was a large hole and he also had a copy of Sonic's red and white sneakers on. At the ends of his hands there were no fingers, only five unnaturally long and sharp claws. Mephiles glanced at the claws as they gleamed in the morning sunlight. "Are you sure you can stand up to the one known as Xerius with those things?"

Metal Sonic made a screeching sound that must've been laughter. "Affirmative." He said to Mephiles. His voice wasn't near as loud as E-123 Omega's but his voice was no less robotic. Metal Sonic's eyes glanced around the ruins of Station Square. Over the past day, many undead people had traveled through here, breaking apart things and searching frantically for a Chaos Emerald so they at least had a chance at staying alive.

However, their search was in vain. Sonic and his friends had three and Metal Sonic had one. The rest were who knows where but that didn't matter to Metal Sonic. He could find them easily with the radar Eggman built inside of him long ago, before Eggman found him useless and destroyed him.

Thankfully the Day of the Dead, and having some strange form of conscious, he was able to live again... teaming up with Mephiles was only temporary. He would get rid of him sooner or later but his ultimate goal was to come alive permanently and get revenge on the fat doctor and the annoying blue blur. Although now, the two had to work together to lure Sonic into coming to the city and getting the emeralds they possessed.

Mephiles stood up, admiring his work with the net and glancing over at Metal Sonic. "The trap is ready."

Metal Sonic picked up the ends of the net and cleverly hid them in the cracked remains of the city. When all of this was finished, Mephiles' ears twitched when he heard sound. Excited, he turned to Metal Sonic. "They're coming! Let us hide."

Metal Sonic, not caring to know how Mephiles knew if it was the ones they were looking for or not, followed him. The two ducked into the remains of an auto shop and hid behind the counter. They peaked over the counter excitedly as they heard voices. Then, both became disappointed when they didn't recognize the voices.

"Grandfather, are you sure it's this way?" A female voice asked hopefully.

"I'm not sure where anything is anymore, my dear." A voice of an old man muttered quietly.

"You know," Another male voice chimed in, sounding much younger than the second voice. "Maybe if we invent some rocket shoes and fly out of this mess..."

"Darren." Another female voice said seriously. "Not now."

Mephiles growled in anger. "Maybe we should scare them off. I don't want them ruining my net. I worked quite hard tying all those knots together."

Metal Sonic turned his red eyed gaze onto Mephiles. "Negative. One of them is holding a Chaos Emerald. We must achieve this item."

Mephiles' eyes suddenly grew a darker yellow and a grin formed on his face, the look actually intimidated Metal Sonic for a moment. "A Chaos Emerald you say?" Mephiles said darkly. He laughed quietly for a moment. "Well then, let the game begin."

-XXXXXXXX-

Shadow the hedgehog hopped across the remains of the broken city with Xerius the Dimension Jumper**1** hopping across next to him. Both were looking around the city for any signs of life but found nothing except a few people wandering here and there, none of them the people they were looking for though.

They were nearing Station Square and Shadow was starting to have a bad feeling in his stomach, the same one he felt fifty years ago. "Are you sure you saw her?"

Xerius gave him a look and Shadow growled under his breath angrily. A large building that overlooked Station Square appeared before him and he was about to Chaos Control to the top of it when a hand grabbed his wrist.

Shadow froze and glared backwards at Xerius. The silent one put a finger on his lips and then pointed to the top of the building. Irritated, Shadow Chaos Controlled both of them to the top of the building. As soon as they reached the top, they crouched down and peaked down into the center of Station Square and Shadow gagged by the sight he saw.

There were five familiar faces far below. Four of them wore professors' clothes and the fifth wore a blue dress**2**. They were all looking around in confusion but before Shadow could confirm it was who he thought it was, a brown net snatched around them and he heard all of them cry out in fear. Shadow turned to Xerius, who lifted a hand and shook his head.

Shadow slammed a fist onto the concrete ground of the building so hard it cracked. "Xerius!" He hissed angrily. "They are going to _die_ if I sit here for one more second!"

Xerius gave him a look and Shadow let out a furious growl again.

Far below, two figures climbed out of a nearby store and one of them clapped their hands slowly. "My, my! Well done my friends but now the fun is over and I recommend you hand me over that emerald."

"Never!" A voice of an old man cried. Shadow flinched at the voice and Xerius' eyes scaled the two figures. One was Mephiles obviously but the other one he didn't see in his image of the future... who was that?

"Xerius!" Shadow growled.

Xerius shook his head.

Mephiles lifted his hands. "Very well. Then I'll kill you and take the emerald. I still win. How about I start with the little girl?"

"XERIUS!" Shadow hissed angrily.

Xerius lowered his head and sighed before nodding to Shadow. Shadow closed his eyes, and Chaos Controlled to the ground. He landed on top of Mephiles and smashed him into the ground and turned to the other one and was shocked to see it was Metal Sonic.

"You!" Shadow gasped while Metal Sonic lunged at him, claws raised.

Shadow ducked and Metal Sonic tripped over him, sending sparks flying as he slid away. Mephiles shoved Shadow off of him and Shadow crashed into the ground hard. He sat up with a groan and gritted his teeth as Mephiles and Metal Sonic turned to him angrily, blocking his view of the net that kept his old friends and family inside the net.

"You die here, Shadow!" Mephiles roared. He lifted a clawed hand but the claws never reached his face as Xerius appeared out of thin air and punched Mephiles in the jaw.

Mephiles flew into an auto shop and Xerius growled angrily, flicking his wrists and extracting his claws. Shadow jumped to his feet and turned to Metal Sonic. "You and me, metal head," Shadow growled to the robot.

_"Wait!"_ Xerius' voice echoed. Shadow glanced over at the warrior as he shook his head. _"I call taking the robot. You can have Mephiles."_

"Very well," Shadow growled.

"Oh? You're able to read his face too, Shadow?" Mephiles laughed as he pushed himself out of the rubble Xerius punched him into. "Good for you!"

Shadow frowned. Wait, hadn't he heard Xerius talk too?

_"Telepathy can only be heard to the people that the person speaking wants to hear them." _Xerius logical explanation suddenly came.

Shadow's frown grew and he lifted his fists. "Come on Mephiles!" He growled. "It's time we finish our disagreements!"

"You sure you don't want to join me?" Mephiles asked.

"Never," Shadow spat. "Now are you going to fight me like a man or cower in fear?"

"I'm no man. I'm a demon." Mephiles growled as he charged at Shadow. Mephiles' claws barely missed Shadow's face as his fist found its way into his gut. Mephiles coughed as Shadow used the force Mephiles used to shoot himself towards Shadow against him.

Xerius on the other hand was having a full on claw fight with Metal Sonic. Xerius gritted his teeth while his metal counterpart in the skill with knives managed to keep up with him at this speed. The two seemed to appear and disappear in thin air. They appeared and disappeared on top of building, cars, the ground, even in thin air.

Sparks flashed when claws met claws and the sparks lit up the each other's faces. Metal Sonic made a screeching laugh as they slid to a stop in front of an overturned truck, both pushing their claws against each other. "You cannot beat me. You might be well skilled with your claws but I am better. I am also a robot. I never tire."

Xerius showed Metal Sonic a smirk but said nothing as he suddenly kneed Metal Sonic in the jaw. Metal Sonic flipped backwards in the air as Xerius lifted his claws by his face for everyone to see. The robot on the other hand crashed into the ground hard, making a small crater.

Shadow punched Mephiles in the jaw and Mephiles slid to a stop next to Metal Sonic as the robot struggled to his feet. Xerius growled at the two and Shadow lifted up his fists. He stole a glance at the net and saw the shocked faces of everyone he knew.

_"Go. I got them." _Xerius' voice suddenly said.

Shadow blinked in surprise. "Are you sure?" He said quietly to Xerius.

_"Positive. Things might get very messy on my part but they need you now. Go help them."_

Shadow nodded and activated his rocket shoes. He skated towards the net and Mephiles lunged at him. "Don't you dare!" He roared, except Xerius appeared out of thin air and kicked him in the face. Mephiles slid back and Metal Sonic charged on Shadow next only to be stopped by Xerius as well. Both demon and robot turned their attention to the Dimension Jumper and attacked.

Shadow slid to a stop in front of the net and looked at them. "Is everyone okay?"

"Shadow!" The beloved voice of Maria made his heart stop. Maria stretched a hand through the knots of the rope and Shadow took her gentle hand in his. Her blue eyes locked with his crimson eyes and he felt relief spread through his body.

"Are you okay?" Shadow asked her, feeling the hard core side of him starting to collapse.

"I'm fine." Maria said softly. "We all are."

"Shadow! My, my, haven't you've grown!" The man who spoke looked a lot like Doctor Eggman but he had gray hair and a friendly smile on his face. Shadow recognized him as Gerald Robotnik instantly and frowned.

"You tried to have me destroy the world." Shadow growled to him.

Gerald laughed nervously. "Now, now, Shadow. I can explain all of this soon but can you get us out of this rope first? Oh! And how's Katherine?"

Shadow opened his mouth to answer when he heard the sound of engines. Shadow froze and glanced backwards as a small machine turned the corner. In it was a very fat man with a bushy mustache. He held a megaphone in his hand and blared down on the three fighters. "METAL SONIC STOP THIS AT ONCE!"

All three warriors froze. Mephiles had Xerius' arms wrapped behind him and Metal Sonic had a lifted fist. Three scratches trickling with blood was running down the side of Xerius' face and he glanced over at Shadow before looking up at the fat man known as Doctor Eggman.

"What are you doing back here?" Eggman demanded as he removed the megaphone. He glared down at the robot. "I thought I destroyed you!"

Metal Sonic made a strange sound in his circuits. "Affirmative. The Day of the Dead managed to bring me back to life."

Eggman laughed. "But you aren't a person! You are a robot!"

"That man... looks just like me." Gerald gasped.

Shadow glanced over at the doctor. He waved a hand in Eggman's direction with distaste. "That... is Doctor Eggman. Your grandson."

"I have a grandson?" Gerald looked excited.

"An evil grandson, yes."

"Evil?"

Maria turned to Shadow. "Quick Shadow! While they're distracted get us down and out of here."

Shadow lifted a Chaos Spear and snapped the ropes. As soon as the ropes and the people inside of them hit the ground, Maria ran forward and hugged Shadow tightly. "Oh Shadow!" She cried.

Shadow closed his eyes and breathed in Maria's sweet sent. It calmed him down and he forgot about everything around him. It brought back memories of the ARK where life was carefree and happy. He put a hand on the back of Maria's head and pulled her closer to him and smiled faintly.

"Shadow!" A voice called, pulling him out of the moment. He opened his eyes and sat up quickly. He glanced over and saw the familiar Professor Sanderson, or as Maria, Katherine, and himself called him: Scarecrow, pointing a finger into the distance.

The ebony hedgehog glanced over and gritted his teeth when he saw a familiar blue hedgehog. He stood up and Maria frowned at the blue blur. "Shadow... he looks just like you."

"What are you doing here, Faker?" Shadow barked.

Sonic slid to a stop next to him. "Saving your life. What the heck were you _thinking_ Shadow? Going off by yourself with Mr. Silent over there..."

"Xerius is more help then you think, Sonic."

"Oh? Then why do these guys beg differ?" Sonic jerked a finger back to the others that had slept in the cave rush forward. Shadow watched as he saw three new people run forward with them. Two were male and the third was female. The entire ground gathered around the outside and looked as Eggman and Metal Sonic yelled at each other while Mephiles threw Xerius onto the ground before returning his attention to the fight.

Xsus paled. "Xerius!"

"Oh just leave him," The one with black tips on his hands, ears, feet, and tails grumbled. "Like he was any use anyways."

"Chase!" The dog eared girl scolded.

"What?"

"That wasn't nice!"

Xsus ignored them and ran to Xerius. He slid on the debris on the ground before sliding to a stop next to Xerius. "Are you okay?"

Xerius pushed himself up, a hand on his bleeding head and nodded. He cracked a faint smile as Xsus showed a worried expression and showed the Chaos Emerald Metal Sonic once had and didn't know was missing yet.

Xsus laughed. "Xerius!"

Sonic turned to Shadow. "Come on, Shads! We have to get out of here!"

"Don't call me that!" Shadow growled while Maria giggled.

Sonic finally seemed to notice the girl and flashed her a grin. "Hi there! I'm Sonic, Sonic the hedgehog! What's your name?"

"Maria. I'm Maria Robotnik."

Sonic's grin wavered for a moment but he managed to keep it. "Nice to meet you, Maria! Anyways, we have to get out of here before things get worse in our situation."

"Alright," Maria stood up and brushed the dust off of her blue dress. She glanced over at her friend from the ARK. "Are you coming Shadow?"

Shadow nodded as he glared at Sonic.

"Come on everybody!" Sonic called and he motioned everyone to follow him. Shadow grabbed Maria's fragile hand and looked back at the other professors before pulling her after him. Xerius hopped to his feet and started running after them. As he ran by, he grabbed the hand of Rouge the bat as she sat there and looked at Metal Sonic and Mephiles thoughtfully.

Rouge blinked in surprise as she got yanked along but managed to keep up with Xerius as he kept a firm grip on her hand. After a moment, she felt a smile grow on her face. Xerius soon ran alongside Shadow with Xsus to his left and Rouge behind him.

"Thank you," Shadow said quietly to Xerius as they ran away from the fight scene behind them. Mephiles, Metal Sonic, and Eggman didn't notice the other's arrival or the fact that they were all leaving in the entire time they were arguing.

Xerius glanced over at Shadow and dipped his head. _"You're welcome."_

And they ran on in silence.

**1= Xerius demanded for a title too**

**2= Don't know who these people are? Well then go jump over and read Katherine's Tale. That will explain who these guys are.**

**Another Chapter done! Thanks for reading- oh! And please do review. Getting reviews- as Xsus puts it- is like getting a hug when you're sad :)**


	9. Hideaway

**Alright folks, welcome to Chapter Eight. After the big battle chapter in the last one, I decided for everyone to have a break in this one. However, there's still important details in this one so all of you stay turned and keep reading! (AN- Rouge's secret is figured out in this one.)**

**Special thanks to Guest for reviewing the last one so this one can come out! :D**

**Guest: Yeah, haha it was hilarious writing about how Shadow has a large feeling of hate towards the doctor, but then again he tried using him to make the ARK crash land and kill everyone so only naturally does Shadow dislike Gerald now, even if he created him and was like a second father to him (Pssh, like Black Doom was one anyways). Yeah, Mephiles is one of my ultimate favorite bad guys ever. It's like he was born to be evil. Thanks again for the review and for letting this one come out :D**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own **_**anything**_** that's SEGA's. If I owned SEGA, then this story would be a game already for all of you to play. However, I do own the Dimension Jumpers and the Professors Darren, Annie, and Scarecrow.**

**Chapter Eight: Hideaway**

Tails opened his eyes and yawned. He frowned as he realized no one else was in the room. Apparently he had slept in today. He sat up and glanced around Shadow the hedgehog's dark room but didn't see anything out of the ordinary. Just a bed- which Knuckles the Echidna slept on, a dresser, and a closet were the main features in his room.

The fox stumbled to his feet, getting off the floor bed that he shared with Sonic the hedgehog. He stumbled to the door and opened it wide to see a stunning sight before him.

Shadow and Maria were sitting on the kitchen table, and Shadow was actually smiling for once and the smile was _staying_ on his face. Maria was smiling too and both were talking cheerfully and carefree.

The genius known as Professor Gerald Robotnik was inspecting E-123 Omega along with his other professors known as Professors Darren, Scarecrow (or Sanderson), and Annie. All four of them had worked together in creating Shadow fifty years ago. Omega on the other hand kept making buzzing sounds, indicating that he was getting annoyed with their interest in him.

Amy, Cream, Cosmo, Rouge, Blaze, Tikal, and the Dimension Jumper named Ria were talking excitedly in their own corner of the room. Amy was holding a map and was pointing to places while glancing at Ria occasionally, who nodded her head with a grin on her face.

Sonic the hedgehog and Knuckles were having an arm-wrestling contest on the kitchen table. Gathered around him were the Dimension Jumpers known as Chase and Jason, Shade the Echidna, Silver the hedgehog, Xerius, and Xsus.

While yawning, Tails walked over to them and Sonic grinned at him as he smashed Knuckles' hand into the table. "Good morning, Tails! How'd you sleep?"

"Pretty good," Tails admitted. He turned his attention to Silver the hedgehog. "When did you get here, Silver?"

Silver shrugged. "Not too long ago. Decided to drop by and say hi... but it looks like Blaze and I picked a wrong day, well _week_, to do so."

Tails nodded slowly, that was defiantly true. After a moment of silence he glanced over at Shadow who was still talking to Maria.

Sonic looked over and shrugged. "Strange to see him stay smiling for once isn't it?"

Tails nodded and then his eyes rested down on Cosmo. He felt his face turn red when Sonic looked back at the girl who was behind him. Sonic snickered. "You should go talk to her. We're all taking it easy today so why not?"

Tails' face turned red. "What?"

Chase grinned at him. "What? Have you _ever_ admitted that you like her?"

Tails shook his head, his face slowly becoming as red as a tomato.

Jason rolled his eyes. "Yeah, Chase. Why don't you admit that you like my sister?"

"Sister?" Tails frowned.

"Ria is Jason's sister," Xsus explained with a grin on his face. "And Chase has a _major_ crush on her!"

"Do not!" Chase growled.

"Do too!"

"Do not!"

"Do too! Big time!"

"Xsus! Fine! Then why don't you talk to Cream?"

Xsus paled. "What? No!"

"Come on, why don't you say something to her? It's obvious you like her. You carried her home from the battle yesterday when her feet got tired." Chase teased.

"Wait, you like Cream? The bunny over there?" Jason frowned as Knuckles slammed Sonic's hand into the table.

"She happens to be a rabbit!" Xsus grumbled.

All boys went silent as Rouge the bat marched up. "I hope you lose, Knuckles." She said flatly to the stunned Echidna. She turned to Xerius and smiled. "Hi, Xerius!"

Xerius paled.

"What are you doing today?"

Xerius looked at the ground and then at her. Rouge frowned. "Nothing?"

Xerius nodded his head.

"Nothing at all?"

Another nod.

"Maybe you can take me on a date!" Rouge smiled. "Seven o' clock sharp! I bet you can find some place to take me. Besides, you're big and strong. If anyone tries to mess with us you can just knock them out cold! See you then, Xie!"

Rouge walked away leaving a stunned Xerius behind. His face turned red when everyone stared at him and made annoying "_ooos"_.

Xsus giggled. "Ah! She likes you, Xerius!"

Xerius crossed his arms and looked at the ground angrily while Shadow walked up next to him and tossed a bet in for Sonic, a penny. "If it makes you feel better Xerius I have one with Maria at the same time. We could go on a double date."

Xerius frowned and Shadow the hedgehog walked away.

"And it looks like _someone_ likes Rouge." Sonic laughed.

Xerius glared at Sonic and marched away while the blue hedgehog grinned. Then, Sonic slammed Knuckles' hand into the table again.

-XXXXXXXX-

Seven o' clock she had said. And it was seven o' clock now. Shadow and Xerius stood outside of the cave with their arms crossed and looking out over the view. The smell of baking cookies floated towards them and Xerius cracked a smile. Xsus had managed to get the guts to talk to Cream and the two were baking cookies from Cream's great-grandmother's recipe.

"Where are they at?" Shadow muttered to himself.

Xerius only shrugged.

After a moment, Xerius' ears twitched when he heard footsteps behind him and glanced back. Maria and Rouge were talking quietly to each other and Xerius was thankful for the cold wind keeping his face from turning red. Shadow turned around too and smiled when he saw Maria.

"Oh good! You boys are out here." Rouge said as she walked up to Xerius. "Where are we going?"

Shadow and Xerius glanced at each other. Shadow made a hand motion and Xerius looked at the ground, coughed quietly and spoke up. _"A Chinese place… hope you don't mind."_

Rouge and Maria's eyes widened and Rouge ran up to Xerius and hugged him tightly, almost knocking him over in the process. "You _can_ talk! I knew it!"

Maria smiled. "A Chinese restaurant? I always wanted to go to one of those places."

Shadow returned the smile.

"So how are we getting there?" Rouge asked.

"Chaos Control!" Shadow called, lifting the red Chaos Emerald he had 'borrowed' from Knuckles earlier that day. A bright light enveloped them and they appeared before a popular Chinese restaurant. Shadow looked up at the building with a satisfied nod. "Like that," He said to Rouge.

Rouge let go of Xerius and smiled at him. "Well, since you talk how about you go in and find us a seat?"

Xerius paled and Shadow shook his head. "Why don't you let me do it?"

"No, no, Xerius should do it. But he's going to have to _talk_ and not do that telepathy thing and scare everyone." Rouge explained.

Xerius' felt his hands starting to shake and he swallowed nervously. "Come on, Xerius, you can do it." Rouge prompted.

The Dimension Jumper suddenly narrowed his eyes and stood up taller, flicked his tail, and marched into the restaurant followed by the others. Maria bent down to Shadow's height and giggled as she whispered. "He kind of reminds me of you and Katherine combined!"

Shadow rolled his eyes as Xerius stopped before the cashier. It was a tiger wearing Ancient Egyptian kind of clothes. Her brown eyes locked with Xerius' and they stared at each other until the tiger glanced down nervously.

"You scared her." Rouge said, trying not to laugh.

Xerius blinked, swallowed, and took a deep breath. "Table for four."

Everyone was silent at the sound of his voice. It was like all the air in the room was sucked out when he spoke. His voice sounded similar to Shadow's. Dark, powerful, but unlike Shadow's, Xerius' voice also sounded kind and patient. Rouge smiled as the woman glanced at Xerius in surprise. She grabbed four menus and motioned them to follow her. As they walked after her, Xerius looked back nervously.

"Good job, Xerius." Shadow complemented.

_"Don't ever make me do that again." _Xerius muttered.

Rouge winked. "Can't promise anything."

"You have quite a nice voice." Maria complemented.

They all gathered around a small table of four and began enjoying the rest of their double date together.

-XXXXXXXX-

Sonic frowned as a paper floated in from the wind from the entrance of the cave. He grabbed the letter and opened it slowly. He read the paper quickly and turned his attention to everyone else in the room as they enjoyed Xsus and Cream's cookies.

"Hey guys, get a load of this." Sonic said as he walked towards them, lifting the paper in the air.

"Oh come on Sonic!" Knuckles grumbled. "Gerald here was getting to a good part of his story!"

Sonic rolled his eyes. "I don't see how Shadow and Katherine breaking into the kitchen in the middle of the night is as important as this letter."

The entire room went silent as they all looked at him. "What is it, Sonic?" Amy asked softly.

Sonic glanced at the letter and dropped it, letting it float silently to the floor. "It's from every dead enemy we have. They're looking for us and demand for a showdown."

-XXXXXXXX-

Xerius cracked a smile while Shadow caught a napkin on fire with a mini Chaos Blast. Rouge clapped and Maria rolled her eyes as Shadow and Xerius watched the flame. Suddenly, their waiter started walking towards them and Shadow slammed a hand on the napkin, extinguishing the flame.

"Your fortune cookies," Their waiter said. He handed out four cookies before walking away briskly. He was obviously intimidated by the four people sitting at the table.

Rouge opened her cookie and frowned. "_'You will find love in the silence'." _She flashed a smile at Xerius.

Maria opened hers with a grin. "'_You will find an old friend'._ What does yours say, Shadow?_"_

Shadow opened his up with a frown. _"'Patience is the key to understanding'_."

All three turned their attention to Xerius as he read his with a scared look on his face. "Xerius?" Rouge asked softly. "What does yours say?"

Xerius frowned and looked up at everyone. In a dead serious voice he telepathically said: _"'The end is near'."_

**Dun dun! Another Cliffhanger! Are their fortune cookies correct? Stay tuned for more… and don't forget to review!**

**Xsus "Review please! And since Guest reviewed she gets a cupcake!" *hands it over* "You can get one too if you review!"**

**Katherine "Keep in mind that if there are no reviews the next chapter won't be updated. The more reviews the better the chapter. So please do review!"**


	10. Search for the Emeralds

**The beginning might be confusing if you've haven't read Katherine's Tale so if you haven't read that yet go do so, but you don't have to. I'm just telling you because I am not going through the effort of explaining what's going on- I know. I'm a lazy author sometimes.**

**SPECIAL THANKS GOES TO **_**GUEST**_** FOR REVIEWING! And since she's the only one that reviewed she gets another cupcake! *hands it over*.**

**Guest=**_** Chase: "WHAT? No chance with Ria? Psssh! I can get a chance just you wait and see and I'll get one! Xsus got lucky with Cream or else we'd both be in the same boat!"  
Xsus "Calm down Chase! *Giggles* but she's riiiiight."  
Chase "Whatever!"  
Me "I really am quite impressed with Xerius talking to Rouge. You'd think he'd never do that at the beginning of the story but he did. And it wasn't even telepathically! And yeah… they got fortune cookies and opened them. It's just as bad as horror movies where a character opens the front door and you know they're going to die- LOL. You and me both, if everyone dies it'll be the end of the world for me! And here's your next chapter. I hope you enjoy it just as much… and enjoy your cupcake."  
Xsus *squeals in joy* "I got a hug from a reviewer!"**_

**Disclaimer= Me "I'm tired of doing it… you guys can do it."  
Katherine "Yes! I always wanted to do this. Okay, BlackSandHeart doesn't own **_**anything**_** that belongs to the company known famously as SEGA that just happens to make more than Sonic the hedgehog games…"  
Windy "The characters BlackSandHeart do not own would be Sonic, Shadow, Silver, Amy, Cream, Cheese, Blaze, Knuckles, Tikal, Shade, Rouge, Omega, Gerald, Omega, the bad guys… am I forgetting anyone? Oh right, Cosmo and Tails. Sorry guys."  
Cosmo "It's okay, Windy. The author however does own the Dimension Jumpers and the ones known as Scarecrow, Annie, and Darren."  
Zap "…Thanks for staying this far into the story and here's the next chapter."**

**Chapter Nine: Search for the Emeralds**

"Ya!" Katherine cried as she swung her sword in a deadly arc. Her sword sliced off the dummy's left arm clean off before stabbing it deep in the gut. She glared angrily at the Dummy's button eyes then sighed in defeat before sitting down next to it on the marble floor. She wrapped her arms around her knees and twitched one of her long ears as another voice spoke up.

"Are you okay?"

Katherine didn't even glance over to the corner of the room to where the person spoke. "Yeah, totally fine. My brother's fighting off the dead and probably won't be alive when I get back all because Zap's stupid machine decided to break just as we were about to use it!"

The voice sighed and stepped into the light, revealing it to be Windy. The girl turned her forest green gaze onto her. "It's almost fixed. We should be able to travel there tomorrow at the latest."

Katherine stabbed her sword into the dummy's knee behind her. "Humph! That might be too late."

Windy rolled her eyes. "But it might not. Katherine, you can't give up now. They might still be alive when they get there and even if they're not I don't think they would want you moping around the place."

The way Windy talked her brought her back to a painful memory of Maria on the ground asking her not to grieve over her soon to be death. Katherine bit back to the tears and looked away from her friend stubbornly.

"Madam!" A voice called behind Windy.

Windy rolled her eyes. "What is it, Fireball?"

The boy named Fireball peaked into the room and glanced at Windy then over at Katherine before returning the gaze to Windy. He was hidden in the shadows so it was hard to see what he looked like, and the fact that his fur color was a sooty black didn't help. "Zap wants to talk to you."

Windy groaned. "What does Zips want from me at this hour?"

Fireball shrugged. "Like I know... or care." With that, Fireball turned and left the room without making a sound.

Windy threw her hands in the air in exasperation. "Alright, I got to go. But you better not be moping around. We should be leaving soon, got it?"

Katherine nodded and Windy left. As soon as her friend was gone, Katherine pulled out a small emerald that looked similar to the white Chaos Emerald from her pocket. Her blue eyes glowed in the white emerald's light and she looked at the swirling black mass in the center of it. "I'm coming soon..." She whispered to the emerald.

-XXXXXXXX-

They got back late, really late. Xerius the Dimension Jumper and Shadow the hedgehog led Maria Robotnik and Rouge the bat into the cave where they saw practically no one inside. Rouge frowned as she looked around. "Where is everybody?" She asked Cosmo, who was cleaning up chocolate chips from the counter top from the cookies made earlier.

"Most of them are in bed," Cosmo explained. She stood up and started counting down from seven as she continued. "Sonic, Tails, Jason, Chase, Ria, Amy, and Knuckles left a few hours ago to go find the last two Chaos Emeralds."

"Why?" Maria asked. "Is something wrong?"

Cosmo nodded, her face looking sad and grave. "Yes...our enemies are looking for us and want a fight to the death."

"All of them?" Shadow wondered.

"All of them."

Xerius growled angrily while Rouge patted his shoulder. "Calm down, big boy. I'm sure we can beat them when the time comes."

"I don't know..." A new voice suddenly said. Everyone glanced over at the couch where Silver the hedgehog had his arms crossed and was sitting on, facing the blank TV screen. "If we don't play our cards right then everyone could die. I don't have any information about this in the future so I don't even have a small clue on what's going to happen to any of us."

Shadow glanced at Xerius.

_"I haven't seen anything of the future about a fight either." _Xerius told only him.

The hedgehog frowned and looked back at Silver. "It looks like we might not make it out of this one."

Maria frowned. "Shadow! We can make it out of this! We've survived grandfather yelling at us, Commander Towers, and many other terrible things. We can make it out of this one too."

Shadow sighed but said nothing.

Cosmo continued wiping down the counters. After a moment, she spoke. "We only have two days left of the Day of the Dead. I cannot believe that if we don't make it through tomorrow that's it for me ever living again."

Maria frowned and her eyes became clouded. "I forgot... we can't stay here forever once the Day of the Dead is over, can we?"

Cosmo shook her head and after a moment she smiled at Maria. "But I am truly grateful to be able to live again these past five days. I have enjoyed visiting you all and making Tails happy again."

Maria smiled. "I am too... and it's good to see Mr. Grumpy Pants here smile." With that, she nudged Shadow, who rolled his eyes while everyone else smiled too.

There was a moment of silence and then there was the sound of an engine rumbling. Everyone turned their attention to the entrance of the cave as Sonic the hedgehog walked in with everyone else Cosmo said had left with him. Knuckles came in last carrying the last two Chaos Emeralds and placed them next to the Master Emerald.

Shadow pulled out the red Chaos Emerald and set it down gently with the other emeralds before walking back to stand next to Maria again. Maria put a hand on his head and gently stroked his quills as everyone silently stared at the Master Emerald.

Sonic finally turned his attention to everyone. "Tomorrow... tomorrow's the day."

"The day for what, Sonic?" Cosmo asked, she stopped wiping down the counters and looked at Sonic with a worried look on her face.

Sonic's eyes narrowed, all hints of his normal cheerfulness gone. "Tomorrow we fight to the death."

Xerius growled and lifted a fist. _"If we fight to the death then we all die!"_ Everyone turned to him in surprise as Xerius looked at everyone before continuing. _"Don't you see? That's what they _want_ us to do! It's suicide to do such a thing!"_

"We have no other choice. They're going to kill innocent people if we don't." Knuckles shrugged.

_"Are all Echidna's so dimwitted?" _Xerius growled again. _"They put that threat down so they can make us fight them."_

"I am not dimwitted!" Knuckles objected.

Xerius flicked his tail angrily. _"If you are all going to throw your life away, very well! I am not going to die for a lost cause! They only want us to come so they can take the emeralds!"_ He marched away and out of the cave, leaving a stunned audience behind. Rouge lifted a hand to call him back but thought better of it and lowered it.

As soon as he was gone, Sonic lowered his head. "I wish there were some other way... but we have to do this."

No one said anything, but all went their separate ways to bed.

**Awww… sad ending. Alright, stay tuned for more! The next chapter will come out when someone reviews so **_**you**_** should review. No, don't… what are you doing? Don't look backwards at the wall behind you. I'm talking to you, yeah, you! You**_** are**_** reading this! Okay, now go down to the review button and click on it. That's right! Click on it. Even one word responses would be nice to get from new faces!**


	11. The Fight is On!

**Welcome to Chapter Ten of Day of the Dead!**

**Xsus "This chapter was brought to you by: Maraya Prower and Guest!"**

**Cream "Since they are so nice for reviewing, we'll give them both a box of chocolates!"**

***hands them over***

**Xsus "But wait, there's more! ….just kidding! Enjoy the chapter!"**

**Maraya Prower= Thanks for the info on Xerius, I didn't even know I was doing that! Thanks again, the last thing we need is TWO Shadows out to destroy the world. Xerius and Shadow have similar personalities in the serious department so I guess I accidently started fusing them, woops. Let me know if I do better in this chapter and give me a few tips on how I can do it better. Xerius has a prideful personality so… yeah. And yes, the fortune cookies were right :D and hopefully Zappy boy will work faster on his machine…  
Zap "You can't rush perfection!"  
Me: *rolls eyes* "Anyways, welcome back! I was starting to wonder where you went haha."**

**Guest= Chase *pales* "Fine…"  
Katherine "Sorry to scare you, haha…"  
Xsus "I GET ANOTHER HUG? Score! :D"  
And yes, this is one of the most interesting chapters in this story so far, even if there is a ticked Xerius in the background. And yeah, even I don't want Cosmo and Maria to go. Both of them are such fun characters. Thanks for saying I'm one of your favorites (I've been trying to be a good writer!).**

***AN- Thanks to a point Maraya Prower pointed out, I realized I was (accidently) combing Xerius and Shadow's personalities together. Therefore, if Xerius suddenly doesn't act the way he has in the last few chapters, don't be surprised because that's how he's SUPPOSED to act.*  
Xerius: **_**"I can't believe you…"**_

**Disclaimer: Katherine "The author doesn't own anything that belongs to SEGA."  
Zap "The author only has copyright of myself, Katherine, Windy, Jason, Ria, Chase, Xerius, Xsus, Fireball, the professors Darren, Scarecrow, and Annie. She also happens to own Sierra the Vile (no matter how foul she is) she even owns the character named Samantha. Taking any of these characters without our permission results in me shocking **_**you**_** with a metal spoon."**

**Chapter Ten: The Fight Is On!**

The flight on the X-Tornado was deathly silent as they flew towards Station Square. Breakfast was like this too, besides Cream and Xsus laughing about something unknown.

Rouge the bat flew quietly alongside the ship, thoughts swirling in her head. No one had seen Xerius that morning and as Chase put it- no one cared either. However, Rouge secretly cared and Shadow and Maria knew it.

"He'll probably come by soon!" Maria said to her hopefully. "I doubt he would want to leave you in the face of danger. He seems to care about you too in some strange way."

Shadow had given her one of his serious looks that he normally gave to her when she was trying to make _him_ feel better. "You cannot focus on him. He can take care of himself."

Rouge wasn't the only one worried about Xerius' disappearance though. Xsus worried for him too. The small boy had considered Xerius a big brother in strange ways and he was the only one that seemed to understand Xsus. As Xsus flew above the ship, he laughed quietly when he thought of Xerius glaring at him.

However, besides that, no one else was really worried about the silent warrior.

Tails looked back at Cosmo as she sat silently behind him. He frowned. "Are you okay, Cosmo?"

Cosmo blinked and looked at Tails before smiling. "I'm fine Tails."

Tails' frown turned into a smile. "Good, you just looked so sad while looking out that window. Are you sure everything's okay though?"

Cosmo nodded and Tails turned his attention to flying the giant machine. As soon as he looked away though, Cosmo's smile turned into a sad frown and she looked out the window again. _I wish the Day of the Dead wasn't such a hard thing for all of us to go through. It's putting a lot of stress on Tails, not to mention Sonic._ She thought to herself.

Cosmo glanced over at the left wing, where Sonic stood silently next to Knuckles, Shade, Amy, and Tikal. _He's been distant ever since Xerius yelled at him._

Tails dropped the plane down about three blocks outside of Station Square and landed it silently on the ground. The group climbed off the plane silently and gathered around as Sonic turned to them. "Alright... let's take this slow and steady." He watched as Tails took the seven Chaos Emeralds out of the Tornado then turned to the others.

"Slow and steady? Are you feeling well, Sonic?" Knuckles chuckled.

Sonic gave him and look and Knuckles closed his mouth.

"Here are the Chaos Emeralds, I figured everyone should at least have one in case something bad happens." Tails muttered. He handed the emeralds out, one to Shadow, Silver, Sonic, Knuckles, Rouge, Cosmo, and he kept one to himself.

Sonic led the way forward with Knuckles standing next to him. All of them walked silently forward, glancing to the left and right. Rouge's instincts were going crazy, telling her to duck into cover. She didn't like how everything around her looked like it had been robbed into or caught on fire.

"This place is giving me the creeps!" She whispered to Shadow the hedgehog.

The hedgehog cracked a smile. "Seems like home to me."

Rouge rolled her eyes as Sonic turned back. "Rouge, Shade, I want you two to scout up ahead then come back to warn us what we're up against. Got it?"

The bat winked. "You got it."

Echidna and bat hopped onto the rooftops and silently hopped around in the shadows, staying out of sight. Both remained silent as they neared Station Square but strangely, both girls saw no one there. They slid to a stop on the remains of a clothes store.

"Where is everybody?" Rouge wondered.

Shade frowned. "I-I don't know. I thought they would be here, ready for an attack but I don't see anyone here. Is it possible they ran off...?"

"Or set a trap up that they don't want to run into." Rouge suddenly gasped. "Look!"

Shade squinted and gasped as she saw a ring of machines outlining the edges of Station Square. Every now and again one of them would glow with a red light before becoming totally dim and useless again. The Echidna looked at the bat. "What do you think it does?"

"Keeps people from going in." Rouge frowned. "I've seen Eggman put these up inside his base once."

"You think that fat man built these?"

"It's possible, you saw them arguing when we went to get Xerius and Shadow, right?" Rouge asked.

"Right, ah, I see what you mean, Rouge. Very good job. I'm impressed. Let's go back and warn Sonic and the others."

"Save your flattery for later." Rouge warned. "We're not out of here yet."

"And you're not going to be able to anytime soon." A dark voice chuckled from behind them.

Both girls glanced back and screamed.

-XXXXXXXX-

A scream echoed off the buildings and Sonic froze, looking around. Everyone stopped and looked around in confusion. "Did anyone hear that?"

"Hear what?" Knuckles shrugged.

"I didn't hear anything." Amy frowned.

"You mean that screaming sound?" Xsus called out. Sonic glanced back at him and saw his ears were twitching and the blue hedgehog nodded slowly. Xsus looked at the ground. "I heard it." He said quietly.

"Good thing..." A voice suddenly echoed around the room. Everyone froze and glanced around nervously but couldn't find the source of the voice. The winter clouds overhead turned darker and looked more like storm clouds now. "Because soon you will be screaming too!"

Then, the ground erupted all around them. Maria let out a cry as Meterex monsters scrambled out of the ground around them along with their Meterex leaders. From the sky above, Mephiles and Metal Sonic dropped down eagerly, both of their eyes gleaming. Then, a nearby water tower exploded, sending water into the air and it all fell to the ground before forming the creature Chaos. A small machine hovered through the air and Doctor Eggman leaned over it with an evil grin.

"Oh good," Knuckles said dryly. "Practically every enemy we know is here."

Xsus paled. "I don't think so!"

Suddenly, an explosion of black magic hit the ground and out of it came a small black, catlike creature. She had ice cold blue eyes and a smirk on her face as she wore black clothes and a black cape that matched her body. The cat held a black sword in her hand in her hand that glowed in the light. Her ice cold eyes glittered as she saw Shadow. "Hello... everyone."

"Sierra!" Jason growled.

"Not you again, back for a rematch?" Sonic growled to her.

Sierra showed a cocky grin. "If you really want one then yes, unless you would care to walk away from this alive. However, I do require a rematch from Katherine's brother and those other pesky Dimension Jumpers."

Shadow clenched a fist. "Try your worst!"

Maria grabbed Shadow's arm. "Shadow! No!"

Sierra smirked. "Ah, does Shadow have a lady friend? How about I remove her head first?"

"Don't touch her!" Shadow growled. Suddenly, Xerius' words of warning came back into his head from when he first talked to him. "_But we have to change that if you don't want Maria to die a few days early, Xsus and Cream to die a painful and bloody death, and Sonic suffering through the insane asylum for the rest of his life."_

Could this be what Xerius foresaw but didn't know it at the time?

"You have no chance in winning, Sonic, so you might as well hand over the Chaos Emeralds." Eggman chuckled from a top his flying machine. As he spoke, his allies prepared themselves for battle. Sierra lifted her sword, Mephiles grew claws, Metal Sonic showed his clawed fingers, and the Meterex minions lifted their fists too. The Meterex commanders lifted their choice weapons eagerly waiting for the order to attack. Dark Oak on the other hand just stood silently and didn't even prepare himself for the fight.

"Never!" Sonic yelled at Eggman. "We got them first fair and square, Egghead."

"Very well." Eggman seemed to pout. "If you do not agree to my terms then I have no choice but to..."

"Stop this now!" Professor Gerald Robotnik yelled. He ran forward and lifted an angry fist towards Eggman. "You dare attack this group of innocent Mobians and your own family?"

"Oh goodie," Eggman rested his head on his hand. "Grandpa Crazy is here to ruin my plans."

Gerald lifted a finger angrily. "If you know what's best for you then call off this attack! We have no plans on wanting to hurt any of you. I might've set the ARK to backfire on your own genius long ago but that doesn't give you any right to ignore me, Ivo!"

The entire block became silent as Eggman glared at his grandfather. "Like you cared. You were too busy worrying about Maria to care about my parents at the time."

"Maria was going to die!"

"My father died because you didn't help!" Eggman roared down at him, shushing Gerald up.

"Okay, okay," Sierra rolled her eyes after an awkward moment of silence. "Now that the family feud is over can we _please_ fight? I want to knock the Emo hedgehog's head off."

Shadow growled angrily and lifted his fists.

Eggman, while glaring at Gerald, sat down in his seat. "Very well. ATTACK!"

Sierra lunged at Shadow while he created a Chaos Spear and launched it at his enemy. He grabbed Maria's hand as smoke covered Sierra and started running away from the crazed girl. "Shadow!" Maria cried.

Shadow glanced back at her and saw she was staring straight ahead in horror. He looked forward too and slid to a stop as he saw Commander Towers standing tall before him with a machine gun in his hands. A dark grin spread across his face. "Hello, Shadow."

Shadow bit his tongue to stop himself from screaming colorful language at Towers. Great. Now he had to keep Maria and himself safe from Sierra _and_ Towers. Today was quickly turning into a doomed nightmare.

"Take this!" A voice yelled. Shadow glanced over and saw the other three professors from the ARK with guns they found from who knows where and started firing on Towers. Darren grinned as Towers turned and ran. "That's for killing us without a fair fight!" Darren called after him.

Shadow smirked but the smirk faded when he felt Maria's hand get taken out of his own. He spun around and saw Sierra with her sword raised over Maria's head. Her blade glinted in the little light there was and Shadow lunged forward. "NO!"

He kicked Sierra off of Maria before she could lower her sword and lifted a fist as Sierra slid to a stop not too far away. She hissed and lifted up her sword while the hedgehog glanced back. He secretly hoped things were going better for the others.

_Silver's POV_

"BLAZE!" I cried as I watched her fall to the ground with a cry. Dark Oak stood above her with a glowing weapon that looked like a scythe. I felt my heart beat in my throat as she laid on the ground, not moving. Dark Oak turned his green gaze on me and I felt rage build up in my body.

"You... little... rotten..." I growled. "Monster!" I lunged and tackled Dark Oak to the ground. I used my telekinesis ability to lift up a nearby stoplight and smash it down on his head but he continued struggling to get me off of him like that attack was nothing. His fist came in contact with my jaw and I flew backwards, crashing into the ground. I gritted my teeth as I stumbled to my feet and saw Dark Oak walking towards me.

I lifted a chunk of rock and threw it at him but he lifted a fist and smashed right through it. I backed up slowly, shooting more rocks and other inanimate objects at him but Dark Oak managed to stop all of these attacks with his own bare, robotic hands.

"What does it take to kill you?" I demanded as I finally turned around and ran for my dear life as Dark Oak threw a glowing beam of dark energy at me. I managed to avoid it and glanced over, seeing Sonic punching his way through enemy Meterex minions. On the ground laid Amy and it didn't look like she was moving.

I threw another granite block at Dark Oak in a final attempt of desperation but he stopped it too. I lifted myself up off the ground and landed on top of a building on the other end of the block, the farthest one away from Dark Oak.

From up here, I could everything around me. Mephiles was attacking Knuckles and Tikal, Metal Sonic was running away from the three Dimension Jumpers, Ria, Chase, and Jason. Shadow and Maria were holding their own against Sierra and from what I could see the little runaway known as Xerius was nowhere to be seen.

I gritted my teeth. Seriously, did he _have_ to back down from a fight? He was a brilliant fighter- so Xsus told me. But why would he runaway from something as serious as this?

Even with all of us fighting now, it looked like we were losing, a hundred to one. Rouge and Shade weren't back yet and that had to mean they were the ones who screamed, and I didn't want to know what happened to them.

Suddenly, someone seemed to appear behind me. I barely had time to glance back as a metal fist hit the side of my jaw again. I flew over the street and crashed into the building on the other side of the street. I flew right through that and slid on asphalt until I stopped with my head resting on the remains of a mailbox. I glanced over and noticed a letter addressed to someone named _SAMANTHA PETINGALE. _Off topic from the battle, I wondered if poor Samantha was still alive.

I struggled to my feet and rubbed my head slowly until I heard the sound of metal ripping apart. I stood up and saw Dark Oak trashing his way through everything, pushing everything in his path out of the way like they were made of children's blocks.

"Oh what does it take to kill this guy?" I muttered. I lifted my fists and charged once again.

-XXXXXXX-

_Rouge's POV_

"Great. I'm stuck. Can you cut our way out of this?" I asked Shade.

The Echidna struggled but got even more entangled in the net we were in. "No." She admitted after a moment of struggling. I sighed and tried moving my arms but they were tied tightly behind my back, making myself useless hanging fifty feet in the air. I glanced up at the magic machine Sierra left behind above the only rope that kept us from falling.

The magical machine was made out of a saw and magic was making it move slowly back and forth. It was ever so slowly sawing through the rope that kept us from falling to our deaths. It was only a matter of minutes until we fell to the ground.

Shade finally spoke. "Who would know that after traveling with the blue hedgehog for this long my life was going to end?"

I frowned. "Don't worry, Sonic will come save us soon."

We both became silent and listened to the sound of battle in the distance. I watched as a cloud of smoke floated into the air. Everyone was occupied in their own fight right now, probably not even thinking about us at the moment.

I heard a snapping sound and I glanced up at the rope, seeing that it was starting to snap. Shade glanced at it too and we both frowned at each other as we started to realize that we might not be saved after all.

"It was nice knowing you, Shade." I said to my ally for probably my last mission ever.

"You too, Rouge." Shade dipped her head at me.

Another snap and then we freefell. I started screaming and Shade was no better as we hurtled to the ground, flipping head over heels. I closed my eyes tightly. _Oh please let this be a quick ending!_

Suddenly, we stopped falling. I crashed into Shade and both of us looked up, dazed, and saw a smug grin on a familiar face.

"XERIUS!" I growled. "About time!"

Xerius flattened his ears with a guilty look on his face as he floated us down to the ground. He extracted his claws and sliced through the ropes. As soon as the ropes were gone, I stood up and tackle hugged Xerius like Cream did to Xsus long ago. "My hero!" I cried while Shade stood up beside me.

_"Are you alright?" _Xerius asked as he inspected me suspiciously for any cuts or bruises.

"Perfectly fine now that you're here, Xie!" I grinned.

Xerius looked at Shade with a frown.

"I'm fine, thank you for saving us." Shade said politely.

Xerius nodded and quietly patted my head while I buried my face in his shirt. It felt great to be alive, safe, and with my knight in shining armor. After a moment of silence Xerius spoke. _"We might want to go save the others."_

Oh right, the others. I stood up quickly and wiped away a stray tear of happiness before frowning and putting my hands on my hips. "I thought you said you weren't going to help us fight."

Xerius looked at the ground, not saying anything. I felt a smile appearing on my face. "You came back to save me, didn't you?"

He said nothing but that was the answer I needed. "Aw, Xerius!"

The warrior smiled faintly.

Shade, looking like she was excluded, pointed towards the cloud of smoke. "Shouldn't we be helping everyone else?"

"Oh right! Of course! Come on, Xie!"

The three of us then ran towards the smoke as fast as we could.

-XXXXXXX-

_Third Person_

"Sonic!" Tails called as he saw the blue hedgehog stumble and fall as a Meterex hit him from behind. He grabbed Cosmo's hand and yanked her over to his big brother, smashing through the enemies that got in his way. As soon as they reached him, Tails bent down next to him and an unconscious Amy. "Sonic? Sonic! Speak to me! Please!"

The fox looked around and noticed the others were starting to be pushed back against him. Silver was carrying a half conscious Blaze on his shoulder, Xsus and Cream were still managing to hold their own but both had scratches and were bleeding badly, everyone else was no better.

Soon, they were all back to back and Xsus lifted his hands angrily, tears forming in his eyes. "GET BACK!" He cried. The ground started rumbling and then a wall of water appeared all around us coming from the ground, water tanks, practically from every source of water available, blocking them from the enemy, forming a giant wall of water.

Knuckles ran next to Tails with Tikal and she put a hand on Sonic's head. "He's alive," She said to everyone as Ria ran up.

"Hang on, I know how to heal people." She said as she placed a hand on Sonic's chest. She concentrated and after a moment, glowing light appeared in her hands. Everyone held their breath for a few seconds until she removed her hands then turned to Amy.

While she healed Amy, Sonic coughed and opened his eyes slowly then sat up quickly. "What? Where? Is everyone okay?"

"Everyone's fine." Jason said as he sat down next to Sonic. Next to him, Amy sat up slowly and then got a hug from a battered Cream, who started crying on her shoulder. Jason watched Cream then looked at Sonic again. "Xsus is keeping us safe... for now."

Shadow walked up to Sonic. "Everyone's beaten up. I don't think we can survive another round of this."

Amy frowned when she noticed blood running down Shadow's arm. She reached out to touch it and Shadow jerked his hand away. "Don't touch me," He growled before walking away, back to Maria, who was sitting on the ground not too far away.

Amy crossed her arms angrily. "Humph, someone's still in a bad mood."

Ria stood up, panting. Healing people must've taken away a good majority of her energy. "There you go." She muttered. Then she stumbled her way over to Silver and Blaze while Jason shook his head sadly, as if he was wondering what to say to his sister.

Sonic looked slowly at everyone. Everyone was here, except for Rouge and Shade still. He figured the two were probably dead now, even if he didn't want to admit it, it was probably true. Everyone here looked tired and everyone was at least scratched up. Even Cheese had a few scratches here and there on his arms and legs.

"Get out here and fight, cowards!" Sierra's voice roared from outside the wall of water.

Sonic sighed and struggled to his feet. "We have to keep fighting."

"What?" Knuckles cried. "We're going to get killed if we do that! Besides, look at you! You don't look like you could stand it if Eggman _poked_ you!"

Sonic said nothing.

Suddenly, the enemy started making confused gasps and whispers as Xsus fell to the ground and dropped the water wall. Cream cried out and ran over to his side as Sonic looked into the distance where the enemy's attention was focused on. What he saw made a grin appear on his face and energy run through him again.

On top of a building stood three faces Sonic wasn't sure he would see again. Shade had her fists raised, Rouge put a hand on her hip, and Xerius lifted his claws for the world to see with a dark look in his eyes.

"Xerius!" Xsus cried, his eyes lighting up and he struggled to his feet with Cream's help.

Shadow smiled as he saw the three of them and looked back at the others. _We might make it through this after all..._ He thought. _Might..._

Then, the three of them along with Sonic the hedgehog and his team charged.

**ATTACK! Will they live? Will Katherine make it on time? Is everyone just going to die? Is this going to be one of those sad ending stories? Did Xsus leave the water running? Stay tuned for more in the next chapter…**

** Windy "And don't forget to review!"**

** Katherine "And don't forget that if you don't review the next chapter can't come out and we don't want that to happen…"**

** Zap "**_**That**_** will be a sad day."**

** *nodding of heads***


	12. Family Reunion

**Zap "You know, I was thinking about making a fan club."**

**Windy "A fan club? Seriously?"**

**Zap "No, no! It'd be cool, really! We could have metal spoons and I'd teach everyone how to shock their enemies, or as we know it, the ones that don't review!"**

**Windy "Okay…"**

**Xsus "I'll join!"**

**Zap "Thank you Xsus."**

**Me "You guys know everyone is reading what you three are saying right?"**

**Zap "Good! Then I don't have to repeat myself! Any of you guys want to join? Anyone? Anybody?"**

**Me *rolls eyes* "**_**Anyways,**_** welcome to chapter eleven of Day of the Dead! Thanks for staying this far with us and special thanks go to Maraya Prower and Guest for reviewing so this chapter could come out for your enjoyment."**

**Rya Prower= Zap "I'm going! Evil will never win as long as **_**I**_** am around! And, Windy, I bet you Maraya here would join my fan club."  
Windy *sighs*"Zap…"  
Don't worry about it, you were right though. Xerius and Shadow's personalities were combining a little so someone had to stop him before it was too late. Thanks for reviewing all these times, you really keep me going and stop me from messing up!**

**Guest= I think you're reviewing right, you're making me laugh as I read them along so I think you're doing fine! And yeah, Sierra *shudders* evil bad guy right there. Never did like her but she is a great bad guy to have. Yeah, I have noticed that too, whenever a bad person messes with a guy's girlfriend it just makes them mad and gets them to jump back up to fight again- totally awesome. Yeah, I played the game Shade was in and she has sort of a polar opposite personality to Rouge so haha that's how that turned out. Anyways, here's another chapter with suspense: enjoy! And thanks for reviewing my friend ^^  
Zap "The metal spoon…? Um… that spoon… ended up… in the heart of… a…"  
Windy "Anyways, thanks for reviewing! Zap you didn't shock a person who didn't review did you?"  
Zap "Um…"**

**DISCLAIMER= Windy "All that the author owns is us Dimension Jumpers and Professors. If it's SEGA's it isn't ours. Must I make things more clear?"  
Zap "Nope."  
Windy "Thank you. Now enjoy the story!"**

**Chapter Eleven= Family Reunion**

Xerius the Dimension Jumper and Rouge the bat stood back to back as Meterex spies flew at them in all directions. Rouge would throw small items at them and Xerius would slash with his claws, knocking down their enemies easily.

"How's it going back there, Xie?" Rouge asked as she kicked a Meterex's head clean off. The headless machine fell backwards and exploded, causing a few others behind it to explode instantly too.

_"Fine." _Xerius replied and ducked when an enemy lunged at him. After a moment of silence he continued. _"This is almost _too_ easy though."_

"Too easy?" Rouge frowned as she stopped another Meterex.

_"Yes… are you out of breath?"_

"Um... no."

_"Hmm... I don't think enemies can be this simple to defeat without a good reason. Although, I could just be wrong..."_

Rouge said nothing as she kicked another Meterex. Suddenly, Xerius' ears twitched and he picked up Rouge wedding style before hopping into the air. Below them, the ground exploded and every Meterex enemy they had been fighting exploded. Xerius frowned at the ground below them. _"Too easy."_ He mused.

Rouge could only nod as he landed on the barren landscape of robot remains and set her down again. _"Come on, we need to help the others."_

The two ran off towards Xsus and Cream who were holding their own against Chaos. As they ran, Xerius suddenly slid to a stop and Rouge stopped a few feet ahead of him. "Xerius? Come on!"

_"You go, I have some unfinished business."_

Rouge frowned. "Be careful, you hear me?" She turned and ran towards Xsus and Cream.

Xerius glanced back. _"Are you ready for a rematch?"_

Metal Sonic jumped down from the sky and lifted his claws eagerly. "Affirmative. Are you ready to die a horrible and painful death, Xerius the Dimension Jumper?"

Xerius said nothing as he turned towards Metal Sonic.

The two lunged at each other and sparks flew into the air as claws collided.

-XXXXXXX-

Tails, Sonic, and Knuckles all charged after a small aircraft machine. The explosion from earlier had knocked out most of the Meterex followers; so the three of them were now able to chase after the man known as Eggman.

"Get back here, Egghead!" Sonic yelled, lifting a fist. "Give us back the Chaos Emerald!"

Eggman lifted the purple emerald he had stolen from Cosmo earlier for them to see. "You mean this little beauty?"

"Grrr!" Sonic growled angrily, his patience starting to be worn thin. He was sick all of this fighting. He was starting to secretly admit that what Xerius said last night was true after all.

Eggman grinned back at them. "You can't have it."

Tails frowned as he ran alongside him, somehow managing to keep up. "What could Eggman be planning with that Emerald?"

"Oh my dead friends!" Eggman suddenly called to everyone down below. "I have the Chaos Emerald you need so we can create copies of it and bring you all to life!"

Sonic groaned in exasperation while he ran. "That's his plan."

"Lame plan if you ask me, how can we be even sure if it'll work?" Knuckles wondered.

"We can't take any chances. We have to stop him before it's too late." Sonic said and he started running faster, leaving Tails and Knuckles in the dust.

-XXXXXXXX-

Sierra slashed at Shadow as he jumped out of the way. She smirked while the dead allies of hers started running after Eggman and his ship. "I'm not dead yet so I don't have to run after him." She explained when she saw Shadow glancing at the people around him.

Shadow smirked. "Fine by me."

They both jumped towards each other again but this time was different. Sierra vanished before Shadow's eyes and reappeared behind him. He slid to a stop and glanced back with a look of terror on his face as he saw Sierra charge towards defenseless Maria with her sword raised.

"NO!" He yelled, causing everyone to freeze, even Eggman, and look back to see what was going on.

Maria leaned back, her eyes growing big and a look of terror on her face as clear as day.

Sierra grinned at the look. "You die now!"

Suddenly, out of thin air, someone appeared and kicked Sierra. Sierra flew off course and slid hard on the ground before crashing to a stop before Mephiles. Irritated, the demon kicked Sierra as she struggled to her feet. Sierra spat and glared at Mephiles then the newcomer. "You! You! You! I hate you! Hate you!"

"Hate's a little harsh don't you think?" The newcomer laughed. Shadow blinked as he recognized the laugh and turned his attention to the girl that stood protectively in front of Maria. She had a glowing white sword in her hands and had long ears that also looked very familiar. The girl winked a sky blue eye at Sierra. "You ready for another rematch?"

"You die here Katherine, _you hear me_?" She hissed.

"You tried touching Maria and broke the Zap's Dimension Traveling machine while you came here leaving me stranded back home." Katherine growled. "I think someone else should die on this ground today."

"How did you find out about that?" Sierra gasped.

"Well," A new voice said slowly. "First off don't put your magic all over the machine."

Sierra spun around and glared as she saw another person seeming to appear out of thin air. His zigzag shaped scar was unmistakable and he smirked at Sierra's angered expression. "Sierra."

"Zap!" Sierra spat. "This isn't your fight!"

"And this isn't your dimension." Zap crossed his arms.

"So? I can come here as I please!"

"Think not," A third new voice added. Everyone glanced over to the top of a building as a cocky grin looked down at Sierra. "They do call them invitations for a reason, smart one."

"Windy!" Sierra growled.

Eggman grinned, seeing this as a perfect opportunity to getaway, flew off. The dead people around him noticed his leave and began running after him. In the chaos, Sierra managed to slip into the crowd, leaving everyone in the dust.

Katherine lifted a fist. "Get back here!" She yelled after the retreating dead, Eggman, and Sierra.

Shadow lifted a hand. "We can't catch up to them like this."

Katherine frowned and lowered her fist before nodding slowly in defeat.

"Katherine!" Xsus cried. He ran forward and tackled her in a hug. "You're here! I thought we were dead and... waaaa!" Xsus ended up crying.

Katherine patted Xsus' head and looked up at the group with gentle eyes. "Are you all okay?" She asked, her ears twitching.

"Katherine!" Maria cried. She ran forward and hugged Katherine as well, leaving her stunned as she glanced over at her brother Shadow with confused eyes. As Xsus backed off and Cream ran over to him, also crying, Katherine pushed Maria back and looked at her face carefully.

"...Maria?" She asked.

"It's me, Katherine."

Katherine swallowed, her eyes big in shock. Then, she ended up giving Maria a tight hug. Tears streamed down her face as she buried her face into Maria's blue dress. She felt three hundred years of misery lift off her shoulder as she hugged Maria tightly. Katherine opened her eyes and smiled at the other professors that were watching with smiles on their own faces.

"I... I missed you." Katherine whispered into Maria's ear.

"I missed you too." Maria whispered back as more tears streamed down her friend's face. All the memories of the ARK came rushing back of all those times they smiled and had fun with not a worry in the world in Katherine's mind.

"Um..." Knuckles coughed. "Dead people, getting away, remember?"

"Right!" Windy coughed as Katherine let go of Maria. Katherine wiped away a stray tear stubbornly and looked around until she noticed a nearby convertible car before flashing a grin.

"How many are you fans of me driving?"

"You, driving?" Jason snorted. "Count me out."

Silver the hedgehog glanced back at a nearby Ford Truck and grinned. "Or me?"

"Please Silver," Blaze sighed. "The last thing we want is you behind the wheel of _any_ moving vehicle."

"Hey, I'm a good driver." Silver crossed his arms.

"Come on!" Katherine hopped into the convertible behind the wheel. Shadow the hedgehog jumped in the other front seat while Xsus, Cream, Cheese, Maria, Knuckles, and Tikal somehow managed to fit in the back while Silver the hedgehog bolted for the truck and Tails ran for the X-Tornado.

After a moment of hotwiring, the engine roared to life and Katherine grinned as she gripped her hands on the wheel. Shadow crossed his arms and scowled at her. "Don't kill any of us."

"Pssh! Shadow! Where's your faith?" Katherine snickered as she slammed her foot on the gas. The wheels spun and squealed in agony as they were forced to move, then they shot forward. Shadow instantly grabbed the edges of his seat while Xsus and Cream put their hands into the air, laughing like this was a roller coaster.

"Just like old times, huh Shadow?" Katherine yelled at her brother over the wind.

"Since when did old times involve a car?" Shadow yelled back.

Maria laughed. "They did involve a need for speed though!"

"Ah! Watch out!" Knuckles wailed as they barely avoided a mailbox. Katherine spun the wheel as they managed to avoid a stoplight, but it did result in removing the car's side mirror. Shadow glanced into his own side mirror and looked back as a large truck came barreling after them with Silver at the wheel.

"I think this is going to turn into a race." Shadow growled.

"Got it," Katherine stomped on the gas but the truck managed to somehow continuously be gaining. Soon they were both driving side by side and Silver stuck his tongue out at the neighbors in the car. Katherine glared at him but managed not to throw her sword at him.

"We're going to die!" Knuckles screeched as the car flew over a bump... that used to be another car.

"No we're not!" Xsus screamed excitedly. "This is amazing!"

Cream giggled as she fell over on top of Xsus as they hit another bump, this one being a speed bump.

"Yes we are!"

"No we're not!"

"Yes we..."

"Hey!" Katherine glared back at them while Shadow glanced back at the two boys too. "No fighting in the car!"

"But he started it!" Xsus wailed, point a finger to Knuckles.

"What? No I didn't!" Knuckles growled.

"Maria would you please...?" Katherine sighed as she turned her attention to the front of the car.

"Yes," Maria smiled and then swatted both boys on the side of the head. Both turned to her in surprise while she wagged a finger at them. "No fighting boys, you hear me?"

"Yes madam." Xsus said, rubbing the side of his head while Knuckles crossed his arms and muttered something. Tikal and Cream on the other hand just giggled.

Shadow smirked while Katherine cracked a smile.

In the car next to them, in the back of the truck, Zap pulled out a small device out of his pocket and glanced at it before turning to Windy. "Why didn't we all just _run _or _fly_ after the dead?"

Windy shrugged while Shade, Jason, Ria, and Chase peaked over her shoulder to see Zap's machine. "What's the fun of that? Besides, it would take some of us a long time to do that. We don't all run Sonic speed you know, or fly for that matter."

"Ah true, and Katherine's having fun for once."

"I think it's just because she gets to show off everyone how crazy she is behind the wheel." Windy snickered.

"I heard that!" Katherine yelled at them.

Katherine spun hard around the corner and Silver followed her lead as both crazy drivers saw Eggman in the distance followed by his legion of undead followers. Katherine grinned. "There they are!"

"The cowards." Shadow growled. "Can this thing go any faster? Silver is going to beat us."

"And since when did you want to win?"

"Since Maria got in the car and Silver took the truck. I will not lose to someone from the future." Shadow said stubbornly.

Katherine laughed while Maria rolled her eyes in the backseat. Katherine lifted her foot off the pedal, saluted to Silver, and then slammed her foot on the gas. The car shot forward and slid in front of the truck and accidently ran over a slow Meterex follower in the process.

"Sorry!" Xsus and Cream yelled behind them at the same time to the Meterex.

They ran into more Meterex enemies as they slowly got to the front of the large pack, every Meterex they ran into dodged out of the way as they flew forward and soon passed the front of the line where Metal Sonic, the Meterex leaders, Chaos, and Mephiles were running.

"Hey!" Mephiles glared at them. "What are you doing here?"

"Enjoying the breeze." Katherine winked.

Mephiles growled angrily.

"Eggman!" Shadow called up to the doctor, standing up in his seat. Above them, the hum of engines was heard and everyone looked up to see planes similar to Molly's and the X-Tornado flying above with the rest of the crew.

"Oh, ho, ho! Shadow! How good it is to see you, and you too, Katherine!"

"Give us the emerald!" Shadow yelled.

"Not without a fight!"

"We already fought you twice now!" Knuckles objected angrily. "Now hand over the emerald Eggman or I swear I'll get up there and..."

"I don't think you can, Knuckles." Eggman snickered. "You can't fly!"

"But I can!" Xsus stood up tall until Cream pulled him back down into his seat to avoid getting smacked in the head by a flying wrench Eggman threw at him.

There was the roar of another engine from behind them and Silver pulled up and drove alongside them. He rolled down his window and leaned his head out of the car. "Eggman! Give me the emerald or I'll run you over!" He honked his horn for good measure.

Eggman now looked nothing but entirely irritated. He pulled something out from the depths of his ridiculous flying machine and turned back to the group. "You cannot stop my genius this time. Once I have the Master Emerald I will be unstoppable!" He threw a small machine down at them similar to a can and it hit the ground before the two machines before sending a wave of smoke high into the air.

"Look out!" Shadow yelled as the smoke covered everything.

Katherine coughed as the smoke got into her lungs and covered her eyes to avoid going blind. Even if she squinted, she couldn't see anything but the thick gray smoke. Behind her, she heard the other coughing as well and then the car went out of control.

Everyone started screaming as the car spun to the right then crashed into a large object, throwing everyone forward. The airbags deployed as Katherine flew forward and her face landed in the plastic covering.

After a moment, she managed to pull her head out of the bag and looked back as the smoke started to clear. The Dimension Jumper began rubbing her neck carefully since the crash had thrown it in a painful angle. "Is… is everyone okay?" She asked slowly.

"I'm alive!" Xsus gasped. He touched his face slowly like he couldn't believe it was still there.

"I'm okay, are you Cheese?" Cream turned to her Chao friend in her arms.

"Chao!"

Knuckles turned to Tikal. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Tikal reassured him.

"Maria?" Katherine asked quietly, as if the name would cause the owner to disappear forever.

"I'm here, Katherine. Don't worry about me." Maria said. She was rubbing her head but besides that looked totally fine. She glanced up to smile at her friend but her eyes drifted over to the seat Shadow was in and her eyes widened.

Katherine glanced over too and by now the smoke was entirely gone. She let out a choking sound as she realized the seat next to her was empty and no one else was around. The street they were on was cold and empty. Everyone but them seemed to have vanished.

**The other Dimension Jumpers made it! But… is it enough? Where is Shadow? What happened to the other dead bad guys?**

**Zap "Seriously though, if I make a fan club, maybe I could permanently stop the Followers of Darkness…"**

**Windy "Zap, shut up. Please."**

**Me "You two are still going at this? It's time for the chapter to end!"**

**Katherine *laughs* "While the three of them bicker, I'll finish it: review so the next chapter can come out, Zap will shock you with a spoon if you don't, yada yada yada. Okay, see you when the next chapter comes!"**

**Me "Also, yay! This is the most I've posted on a story before :D"**


	13. Planning

**Zap "Hello various humans, Mobians, aliens, Dimension Jumpers, and other people that I don't feel like mentioning that are reading this. Welcome to Chapter Twelve of Day of the Dead."**

**Windy "Hey, hey! Hold on Zappy boy but where did the author go?"**

**Zap *sighs* "Where were you when she told us she was going with Katherine to hunt down Silver in the future?"**

**Windy "They went to do **_**what**_**?"**

**Zap "Anyways, while BlackSandHeart and Katherine are away to go get the missing CD that Silver the hedgehog took from them, we (Windy and myself) were told to take charge of updating the next wonderful chapter and write down the notes she left for thanking the reviewers."**

**Windy *gives Zap suspicious look* "Are you sure you didn't just lock them in the basement?"**

**Zap "**_**Anyways,**_** special thanks goes to: Guest and Maraya Prower for reviewing! Here are the notes she left behind:"**

**Guest= *Katherine, Xerius, and Shadow glance at each other* Katherine "I call taking the ninja spot."  
Shadow "Humph! Try your best Katherine but you know you cannot out ninja the Ultimate Life Form!"  
Xerius *rolls eyes* **_**"Please, both of you can fight over taking second place. First place has already been taken by me."**_**  
Katherine "Whatever!"  
Me *anime tear drop* "So yeah, Silver and Katherine driving a car: dangerous. Don't ever get into the backseat-or front seat- of a car they're driving in- LOL. The entire scene was funny, making it one of my favorite scenes in this story so far XD. Thanks for the review, my friend :)."**

**Maraya Prower= Well **_**that**_** is very true lol, on all four points. Although, I wish Shadow did do that but he didn't… oh well I need to stop before I mention anything else in the story. Now that everyone is here everyone should go out and kick some bad guy butt! Also, I need your help. I need a good badguy name. I have Terrarock down but I don't know about it… what do you think?  
Zap "Haha! Take **_**that**_** Windy! I **_**told**_** you Maraya would join my Fan Club! Quick, go put it on your profile :D"  
Windy *rolls eyes*"Whatever… I'm out of here." *leaves the room***

**DISCLAIMER= I don't own SEGA, or the goldfish mentioned. All that I own are the Dimension Jumpers, Annie, Scarecrow, and Darren. I also own "Chaos Imagery". The idea of the cave being Shadow's Man Cave belongs to my friend raeweis.**

**Chapter Twelve= Planning**

"SHADOW!" Katherine yelled into the empty space for what seemed to be the millionth time. She looked around, horrified that she had lost her brother _again_. She already lost him once… so long ago… in the snow.

Knuckles the Echidna frowned at the car. The thing managed to crash into the side of a brick wall and the front half of it was smashed into the car itself. Both front tires were popped and crushed while the front seats were literally the front of the car now. "Well this thing is a piece of junk now. What kind of driver are you?" He yelled back at Katherine.

"Please Knuckles," Tikal the Echidna scolded. "She's already having a hard time. You are not making this any easier for her."

Xsus frowned. "This is so sad!"

Maria Robotnik turned to him with a frown on her face. "What is? Shadow having gone missing?"

"No, I lost my goldfish crackers!" Xsus wailed.

Cream sighed but looked like she was trying not to giggle. "I told you to keep an eye on them."

Xsus got on his knees. "I know! But… but! It's not fair!"

Maria rolled her eyes and turned to Katherine. "Katherine, we have to keep moving. Maybe if we move we can find Shadow. Or anyone else at this rate."

There was a moment of silence as everyone looked around until Katherine snapped her fingers. "Everyone! That's it!" She reached into her pocket and pulled out a glowing white emerald with a black mass in the center of it.

"Your Soul Emerald!" Maria smiled. "Of course!"

Katherine nodded as she inspected the glowing surface. "Since Zap told me that Tails gave the Chaos Emeralds out to everyone I will be able to come in contact with the others." She closed her eyes and concentrated and after a moment, two images were seen inside the emerald.

Everyone gathered around the emerald, peaking over Katherine's shoulders as the images became clearer and became the faces of Sonic and Silver the hedgehog.

"Wow, what is this thing?" Sonic wondered, his voice sounding like he was on the phone. He squinted. "Hey! Silver and Katherine! You guys are okay!"

"Of course we are!" Katherine sighed angrily.

"Oh so cool!" Silver grinned, his voice sounding like he was on a phone too. "Chaos Imagery! I thought only my parents could do this!"

Katherine took a deep breath. "Okay, where are you guys? And we need a new plan."

"Green Hill Zone." Sonic shrugged. "Don't know how that worked. First we were flying after Eggman and then before I knew it smoke covered the Tornado and then we crash landed in this zone. The Tornado's practically useless now."

"Same goes with my truck. We landed not too far from the mountain we came out of earlier today." Silver grumbled.

"We're still in the city." Katherine informed them. "Anyways down to business, remember what Eggman had said before he threw that smoke bomb at us? He wanted to go find and get the Master Emerald."

Silver snapped. "That's right! My team will go guard it."

"Your team?" Katherine questioned.

"Team Silver! We have Blaze, Zap, Windy, Shade, Jason, Ria, Chase, and myself, of course; basically everyone that was in my truck."

"Team Chase sounds so much cooler!" Chase's voice came from somewhere behind Silver.

The white hedgehog rolled his eyes. "Anyways, back to my point. If we keep an eye on the Master Emerald it will lower the worry of someone bad taking it."

Sonic nodded. "Alright, sounds like an idea. I think my team will go after Eggman on foot now that the Tornado is down. We might as well... what are you going to do, Katherine?"

The Dimension Jumper shook her head. "Depends, who's in your group?"

"Amy, Tails, Cosmo, Xerius, Rouge, Omega, and the professors. Then there's me to add into the mixture. We can go hunt down Eggman and take back the emerald he stole so we don't have to worry about any dead bad people coming back to kill us. So, what are you guys doing?"

Katherine narrowed her eyes with a frown. "We're going to find Shadow."

"Shadow? He's missing?"

"When the smoke cleared he wasn't in the car." Katherine sighed.

"I knew you were a bad driver." Windy's voice muttered from Silver's picture. "You probably threw him out."

Katherine rolled her eyes, deciding to ignore Windy. "I have Knuckles, Maria, Xsus, Cream and Cheese, Tikal, and myself. If we go hunt down Shadow then we can team up with Sonic later and help him take down Eggman and get the emerald back."

"Sounds like a plan!" Sonic showed his trademark grin.

"Silver out!" Silver grinned and his image dissolved. Katherine clenched her fist around the emerald for a moment then returned it back in her pocket and turned to the others.

"Shall we find Shadow?" She asked coldly.

"Hang on," Knuckles waved his hands. "I do _not_ want to go hunting down your emo brother, no offence Katherine."

"I take offence." Katherine growled.

Knuckles continued, ignoring her. "If we team up with Sonic we can find Shadow faster because the people who might've kidnapped him might be Eggman and his dead people anyways!"

"Well then, great lead Knuckles. Let's go find Eggman."

"Wait, I said team up with Sonic! Not go find Egghead!"

Katherine turned and started marching down the road, ignoring the Echidna. Maria sighed and ran to catch up with her as everyone slowly followed her.

"You know maybe he's right." Maria said to Katherine.

"What? You want to ditch Shadow too?"

"No, no! That's not what I mean. But if we team up with Sonic we have a better chance to going into Eggman's defense system and getting Shadow out of there." Maria explained.

"I'm not going to wait for Faker to catch up." Katherine muttered.

"Faker? Since when have you called him Faker? I thought only Shadow called him that." Maria laughed.

Katherine's eyes widened when she realized her mistake then shook her head, trying not to smile. "I've been hanging around Shadow and Windy for a little too long. Now they're personalities are rubbing on me. Anyways, I'm not going to wait for Sonic to catch up. The faster we find Shadow the faster we can get this fight over with."

Maria nodded thoughtfully. "I guess I can see where you're going with this. You want me to try to explain to the others what your plans are? I don't think they want to listen to you."

"Be my guest... but be careful. They get a little... ah... aggressive. Especially Knuckles."

Maria smiled and turned to the others.

-XXXXXXXX-

TEAM SILVER:

Windy stood in front of the doorway to Team Dark's cave. Or as Zap laughed and called it: Shadow's Man Cave. Her green eyes scaled the mountain side as she heard the others move around inside behind her.

"Does anyone want any lemonade?" Blaze asked.

Windy glanced back into the cave and saw Silver sitting in front of the Master Emerald. His golden eyes staring intently at the emerald, like he was daring it to move. "Too busy guarding the emerald Blaze, sorry."

"You know Windy's guarding the door right?"

"Doesn't hurt to have _double_ protection!"

Blaze rolled her eyes and handed lemonade out to everyone else.

Zap sighed as he took two lemonade glasses and walked out to Windy. "You want a glass, Wind?"

"I don't know about this." Windy muttered. "Something seems wrong with the wind, it feels like the same wind has been blowing around for the last twenty minutes."

Zap rolled his eyes. "I asked if you wanted a glass of lemonade, Windy. Not what you were thinking about."

"Oh, I knew that." Windy accepted a glass and sipped a bit of the sweet glass as the cold wind blew through their fur. She glanced down the mountainside while Zap turned his eyes to the cloudy sky high above them.

After a moment, Zap spoke. "I'm sure everyone will be fine."

"What? Who told you I was worried about them?"

Zap glanced over at her and gave her a look very similar to Xerius'.

"FINE!" Windy huffed as she glanced over at him for a moment. "Okay, maybe I'm worried about them just a tad." She took another sip of lemonade and looked out to the city. "I mean, think about it. None of them have been in any serious fights like this one before. They haven't been this close to death in awhile and not only that but I think time is stopping here."

Zap flinched as soon as she said time and stopping. He glanced over her nervously. "Time's stopping? What makes you say that?"

"I'm not sure _who's_ doing it but whoever it is they have to be seriously powerful. That gust of wind just now? I've felt it already at least ten times now, and you know I can do that since I rule the wind. I think one of the dead people is stopping it so they have more time to find the Master Emerald and achieve all their goals before tomorrow when it's too late." Windy said as she watched a snowflake fall from the sky.

"So..." Zap said slowly. "Today is going to be a very long day."

"Very... very long day."

"You have an idea on who's doing it?"

"Someone with Chaos abilities that isn't on our side."

"Ah..." Zap took another sip of lemonade. "Katherine did say Shadow was missing…"

"What are you implying? Shadow would never do such a stupid thing in his life. He is Katherine's brother and can you see Katherine doing that?" Windy growled.

Zap said nothing, seeming to think over the fact that time was stopping thanks to Chaos Control. He frowned as he looked over the city and then at the glass of lemonade in his hands. "We should probably tell the others."

"Not now... they already have enough to worry about."

"Very well."

"Besides... I think the other ones with the ability with Chaos Control know. I bet you they can feel the energy of it in the air just as much as you understand electricity and I get the wind."

Zap turned around. "I won't tell anyone just yet. But later on today I'll bring it up."

Windy nodded as the boy walked back into the cave, leaving her outside with her thoughts, and living through the same cold gust of wind all over again.

-XXXXXXX-

TEAM SONIC

"Xerius?" Rouge asked questionably as they walked over the grassy hills of Green Hill Zone. The dark clouds above looked anything _but_ wintery. "Do you think the others are okay?"

Xerius shrugged but looked thoughtful.

"It'd be nice if you said something. I admit it when I say I don't like the silence." Rouge muttered as she glanced over at a pile of earth that made a large loop. She watched Sonic fly up and around it before zooming off. He was looking ahead for Eggman while the others walked along, slowly catching up.

Xerius still said nothing as rain started falling from the sky after a flash of lighting. Rouge jumped back in surprise as the thunder rumbled through the plains. She put her hands over her head and grumbled angrily. "Gah! And I took a shower this morning!"

E-123 Omega made a laughing sound. "ROUGE IS AFRAID OF THE THUNDER." He said to Xerius.

"What? No I'm not!" Rouge pouted.

Another rumble of thunder and Rouge jumped next to Xerius and wrapped her arm through his. "Okay maybe I am, but that doesn't mean anything! Nobody likes thunder, you know."

Xerius held an amused look on his face.

They walked along in silence until another flash of lightning caused Amy to scream in fear and duck behind Tails and Cosmo fearfully. Cosmo looked back and laughed gently. "Don't be afraid, Amy. It's just light."

"I want to go find some cover, it's scary out here." Amy muttered.

"And risk losing Doctor Egghead? I think not!" Sonic said as he slid to a stop next to the group. As soon as he stopped, Amy jumped onto him and hanged on tightly as he struggled to continue moving forward.

"But Sonic...!" Amy started to say but when she saw the look Sonic was giving her she stopped short. "Fine..."

"Did you see any signs of Eggman, Sonic?" Tails asked, looking back at Sonic hopefully.

Sonic shook his head. "I saw nothing."

Everyone became quiet as they realized that this was going to be a _lot_ harder than they thought it would be. Even with the Chaos Emeralds Sonic, Tails, and Rouge had it was still going to be hard to find Eggman and the Chaos Emerald he stole.

**Zap "Good chapter ending."**

**Windy *barges into the room* "ZAP!"**

**Zap *glances back in surprise* "What?"**

**Windy "So much for going to the future. Look at what **_**I**_** found in the basement banging on the door!"**

**Katherine *runs in* "Zap I'm going to knock that smirk off your face and into the next dimension!"**

**BlackSandHeart "Went after Silver to get back a CD? You know how old dated those things are?"**

**Zap *pales* "Um… review so next chapter can come out… and here's a note for all of you:"**

**Here's the basic information you guys should know:**

**TEAM SONIC: Amy, Sonic, Tails, Cosmo, Xerius, Rouge, Omega, Gerald, Annie, Scarecrow, and Darren**

**TEAM SILVER: Silver, Blaze, Zap, Windy,** **Shade, Jason, Ria, and Chase**

**TEAM SHADOW: Katherine, Maria, Knuckles, Tikal, Xsus, Cream, Cheese, (and Shadow if they ever find him...)**

**Zap "Okay, I'm good. Later!"**

**Katherine "Where do you think you're going? Get back here! No, no, jumping out a window will not do **_**any**_** good for you, Zap!"**


	14. Something Worse

**Katherine "So… after that I smacked him in the head with the metal spoon he keeps in his back pocket."**

**Shadow *frowns* "I thought he had duct tape in his back pocket."**

**Katherine *smirks* "Funny but no. Just a metal spoon."**

**Windy "I can't believe Zap is now in the hospital. I **_**told**_** you to go easy on him. Who's going to pay the bills?"**

**Katherine *sighs* "He deserved it though! He locked me and the author in the basement for the Light Givers' sake!"**

**Me "She has a point."**

**Sonic "Hey guys! We're live!"**

**Me "Right! Okay welcome to Chapter Thirteen of Day of the Dead! Thank you for staying this far with me and for enjoying the story so far! This story came out faster than normal because of: Maraya Prower!"**

**Maraya= I put this one up because your comment on the bottom made me laugh and because I keep my word! Review and I post the next chapter the very same day! Okay, sometimes. I do it when I'm not busy lol. And yeah, Silver's the guy you need for a good sense of humor. And poor Zap… um… sorry you saw that… yeah… um… but he did lock me in the basement! Anyways thanks for the review and here's the chapter you deserve! Also, if you wonder how I'm able to post this up so quick- I'm ahead of you readers on the story haha.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything that's SEGA's or the song Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. I just own the Dimension Hoppers and the three Professors.**

**Chapter Thirteen: Something Worse**

TEAM SHADOW

"Good heavens," Maria Robotnik said, frowning at her cup of hot chocolate suspiciously. The inside of it swirled and it looked like there were chunks floating around in the mixture. "This is nothing like the hot chocolate we had on the ARK."

Katherine the Dimension Jumper stuck her tongue out. "Yeah, this is disgusting."

"How may I help you folks?" A large woman said as she walked up to them. Her voice sounded like she had gargled rocks every morning before coming to work here at the diner. Her pink dress was faded from the millions of times she washed it and her hair was pulled back in a straggly bun. She had bags underneath her scrunched up brown eyes.

"We're good," Katherine forced a smile. "This is all that we need, thanks."

The woman snorted and walked away. Katherine shot a glance around at the others and sighed in disbelief. "Xsus, stop playing with your drink."

Xsus froze, stopping his mixture of bubbly hot chocolate that was in the shape of a man from walking across the counter, which was making Cream the rabbit laugh. He scowled and then his face turned into a pout. "Do I have to?"

"Yes, stop playing with your drink and actually drink it."

"But there's weird stuff floating in it!" Xsus, the Dimension Jumper, complained.

Knuckles the Echidna glanced at his disturbing cup and called the waiter back over. "Can I have some coffee instead of this stuff?"

Tikal the Echidna sighed. "Knuckles…"

Maria shook her head. "We're all missing the point here. We need to find Shadow, so why are we sitting in a diner? I know Windy and Zap explained to all of us that time is slowing down and stopping but why does that give us any right to sit here in a diner?"

Katherine glanced at a nearby television screen and then looked back down at the coco before her. "We're waiting for the news. Knowing Sierra well enough, she manages to always get to the center of attention somehow."

Suddenly, breaking news appeared and everyone swirled their red topped chairs to the direction of the screen monitor excitedly. An announcer appeared on the screen and then disappeared too quickly for any features to be made out. Instead, a video of two people running around on the top of the roof was visible. Katherine waved a hand in the direction of the TV and looked at Maria. "See?"

Maria smiled, rolling her eyes.

On the TV, Sierra was running across the roof with a weird scepter looking thing in her hands. Towers ran alongside her, carrying his machine gun. Katherine growled angrily. "Great, my least favorite people teaming up. Xsus, come on, I want you to come with me."

Xsus' hot chocolate man fell to a puddle on the counter. He looked back at Katherine. "You want _me_ to come?"

"Hey, why don't I go?" Knuckles asked.

Katherine took a deep breath and turned to Knuckles. "I need you to watch over the others. I want someone strong to keep an eye on Maria, Cream, and Tikal here. I'm sure they can take care of themselves but I want you to be there just in case."

Knuckles crossed his arms. "What's the cost?"

"Knuckles!" Tikal sighed.

Katherine looked thoughtful. "How about five hundred rings?"

"Nope,"

"Come on! That's all I have! Alright, I guard the Master Emerald for two months."

"Nope,"

"Gah! Okay then, how about I order Xerius to stay here with Rouge so she doesn't steal your Master Emerald when she has nothing better to do."

"Deal,"

They shook hands on it and Katherine grabbed Xsus' arm before yanking him off the stool. "I'll be back with some information to help us find Shadow!" She promised the others as she ran out the door with Xsus waving goodbye in tow.

-XXXXXXX-

TEAM SONIC

"Ugh, I can't believe we haven't found anything." Rouge the bat muttered as Xerius, a Dimension Jumper, walked silently next to her.

E-123 Omega made a sighing noise. "NO LIFEFORMS DETECTED IN THIS AREA. I AM NOT SURE IF SONIC THE HEDGEHOG IS LEADING US IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION."

Sonic glanced back at him, scowling. "I heard that."

"GOOD. NOW I DO NOT HAVE TO REPEAT MYSELF."

Cosmo put a hand over her mouth to avoid laughing. Tails smiled next to her while Sonic shook his head in disbelief. "I'm sure this is the right direction. Egghead has a base over by that mountain over there. If we go in we might find out some hints that point where he's hiding out in and if he's in that hideout, great! One step closer."

There was a moment of silence until Xerius froze and glanced backwards. Omega's circuits whirled. "LIFEFORM DETECTED."

Rouge frowned and put a hand on her hip. "What is it?" She asked them, but both said nothing.

Then, over the hill, a blue figure struggled up and then fell down it before sliding to a stop before Sonic. Sonic let out a yelp and jumped at least ten feet in the air but Amy grabbed his arm before he could runaway. "Sonic! Calm down! It's just… Metal Sonic?"

They all stared at Metal Sonic in shock. He looked like he had been dragged through the wilderness and back. His paintjob was ruined and he was missing one of his robotic ears. His red eyes seemed to have dimmed and he slowly pushed himself upwards. "Hello, Sonic the hedgehog." He said in his robotic voice.

Sonic frowned, surprised he hadn't attacked him yet. "Hello...?"

"What happened to you?" Rouge asked, standing next to Xerius with a hand on her hip.

Metal Sonic struggled to stand but dropped down on one knee. Then, Xerius was standing next to him, helping him stand. "Xerius! What are you doing?" Amy gasped. "He happens to not like us you know."

Xerius glared at her and she shut up.

Metal Sonic made a gasping sound, as if he was struggling to breathe. "I have been through a world of pain. I have seen something that looked like a nightmare. The depths of darkness itself. No one else survived."

"What are you talking about?" Sonic asked.

Tails Prower moved up next to the machine and investigated it. After a few looks he shook his head with a frown. "He's beaten up badly, Sonic. I don't think anything he says is going to make any sense unless I can work on him."

Sonic frowned. "Well, he could lead us to Eggman… alright Tails, do your thing."

Rouge sighed. "Looks like we're going to be here for awhile."

-XXXXXXXX-

TEAM SILVER

Silver the hedgehog stood at the entrance of the cave; his golden eyes scanning the horizon and the mountain side, looking for any signs of trouble. He glanced backwards into the cave where he heard the others laughing.

He shivered as a blast of cold, winter wind flew through him, the same one that came by three minutes ago. However, the difference was was that this one brought a flurry of snow with it. Silver smiled at the snow, back home he would always play in it, throwing snowballs at unsuspecting trespassers. He remembered that Christmas was but a few days away, maybe, if he survived this day, he could celebrate it here in the past.

After a moment of silence, Silver started whistling all the songs he knew, obviously bored and waiting for his turn to guard the front of the cave to end.

When he had finished whistling _"Twinkle Twinkle Little Star"_ when he heard something snap farther down the hill his ears twitched at the sound and he moved to the edge. He glanced down and let out a yelp as he saw three Meterex minions pull themselves onto the ledge. One turned to him and let out a croaking voice. "Please… help us."

Silver, being the helpful person he was, ran over to help, forgetting the fact that they were Meterex. "What's wrong?" He asked them as he pulled the other two Meterex minions up, over the edge of the cliff.

"We… we were attacked…" The Meterex groaned. "A terrible… terrible… attack…"

"Calm down," Silver said slowly, more to himself then the Meterex. "Tell me exactly what happened."

"The last thing I remember… was running from you team with Sonic… you got to the front… Eggman pulled out his gas thing, and then we were attacked. It was so cold… so dark… so terrible." The Meterex whispered. His red eyes widened like he was horrified by something unknown.

Silver never recalled a Meterex sounding scared before, but then again, he was never fought them in outer space like Sonic and the others did long ago. He frowned and glanced at the Meterex. "How can I know you're telling the truth?"

"You have to… believe me… he already got the others… we're all that's left. It's too late for us… destroy us before it gets us!"

"Destroy you? What? Before what gets you?"

"It… it gets us…" The Meterex fell over in the snow along with his teammates before they exploded on their own, leaving Silver in a rain of metal. He watched the metal fall from the sky, spinning in the cold wind like miniature space ships.

Silver didn't know what to say. He glanced back at the cave and caught a flying piece of metal in his hands. "They were attacked? By who?" He muttered.

He stood up and walked towards the cave. The others needed to hear about this.

-XXXXXXXX-

Shadow the hedgehog opened his eyes slowly, feeling light headed and sick. His eyes widened when he realized he wasn't where he belonged: with Katherine, Maria, and the others in the car. The last thing he remembered was Eggman throwing the smoke down, smoke flying everywhere, then someone pulling him out of his seat… then darkness.

The ebony hedgehog looked around angrily, wondering if his captor was somewhere around him. Knowing his list of enemies, it was probably Mephiles. He was the one that was always had a thing for Shadow, and it annoyed the crap out of him. He copied his shadow then constantly asked for him to join his side. No one else could be as persistent as Mephiles was.

In the darkness, Shadow managed to make out that he was in a glass case, easy to break out of by the looks of it, but he learned from over fifty years ago that looks can be deceiving. He touched the glass and reared back in shock when he felt electricity arc through his fingers. Electric glass? How was that possible?

Suddenly, light shined down on him and Shadow lifted a hand over his eyes as he saw a figure in black holding a gleaming scythe. It hid in the shadows and seemed to smile when it noticed Shadow looked at it.

"Hello…" It said in a cold voice that sent shivers running up and down Shadow's spine.

"Who are you?" Shadow growled.

"Your worst nightmare." The figure said. It crossed its legs in the darkness, and Shadow suddenly saw red eyes glowing from the darkness. "I am here to return and rule the world once more, Shadow. You can work with me if you want to."

"Mephiles?" Shadow asked.

"Anything but, _that_ is Mephiles." The figure waved a gloved hand to Shadow's left and the hedgehog glanced over to see Mephiles standing not too far away. He looked the same that he always did but there was something wrong with his eyes. Instead of their yellow reptilian self, they glowed with a disturbing red and black mixture.

Shadow didn't know what to say as the figure stood. "Whether you like it or not, hedgehog, you _will_ join me." It chuckled darkly as it seemed to dissolve and disappear into thin air.

As soon as it was gone, Shadow turned to Mephiles. "Mephiles? Mephiles! What happened to you?"

Mephiles looked at him, but his head flopped over to one side as he did so, making Shadow blink in surprise. "The master doesn't want me to speak to you."

"But you just talked to me, just now!" Shadow growled.

Mephiles said nothing.

Shadow mentally wondered if Katherine ever suffered through things like this in her dimension.

The hedgehog looked at the glass covering and noticed his red Chaos Emerald standing on a desk not too far away, too easy, as Xerius would say. He lifted a fist, it didn't matter. He had to get out of this place and inform the others. It looked like there was something worse. Something was _controlling_ everyone else.

That was why Mephiles wasn't talking to him. It was because he was being controlled by the robed figure. That also explained why the figure said that he would serve the figure sooner or later. Shadow growled as he lifted a fist. Even if he got electrocuted, his objective was still clear in his head: he needed to get out.

He punched the glass and gritted his teeth as he felt electricity make his quills stand on end. However, he made process as he saw cracks appear in the glass. He punched it again and the glass shattered, some of it falling on him and scratching his skin and the electricity singeing his fur. Mephiles charged forward. "You cannot get away!" He screeched, his red and black eyes glowing.

Shadow lunged for the Chaos Emerald and as his hands wrapped around it, he closed his eyes and imagined a place. "CHAOS CONTROL!" He yelled.

A flash of bright light surrounded him and he vanished from sight.

The door opened again and it was the figure once more. It glanced at Mephiles, who cowered in fear. "I'm sorry master!" He gasped. "Give me another chance…!"

"I'm done with you." Was all that it said as if lifted a hand towards Mephiles. The demon cried out as he felt searing pain arc through his body. Then, he dissolved into ashes and the figure let out a dark laugh like the demon's pain had entertained him. It watched Mephiles' ashes float through the air. "Even if all went according to plan, I still never get tired of doing that."

-XXXXXXXX-

"Ugh," A large Doberman grumbled. He put his head on a gloved hand and started drawing imaginary circles on the wooden countertop. "This is the most boring job ever. Besides, who sends telegraphs anymore?"

Suddenly the door opened and the Doberman looked up in surprise. His jaw dropped when he saw it was Shadow the hedgehog.

"Uh… uh… Mr. Shadow, sir!" The Doberman stuttered. "How… how may I help you?"

Shadow limped over to the counter. In one hand he held a Chaos Emerald and the other hand had a tight grip on his shoulder. He was covered in scratches and his fur looked a little burnt. The Doberman mentally wondered what did that to him as Shadow looked up at the Doberman, his crimson eyes glowing.

"You send telegraphs don't you?"

"Of… of course!"

"Then send one. Quickly. Before it's too late."

"Alright, what do you want me to send and who to?"

"Katherine and… Maria. Tell them… tell them that there's something worse than this." Shadow said slowly.

The Doberman nodded as he wrote down Shadow's note on a piece of paper. "Alright, thank you very much, sir. Do you want to become part of the Master Reward Card club? The more telegraphs you send the cheaper each one gets."

When no one answered, the Doberman frowned and looked up, seeing Shadow wasn't there anymore, in fact he wasn't in the _store_ anymore. He frowned as he noticed twenty rings left on the counter, the exact payment for a telegraph. He looked at the letter, then the rings, and then glanced at the empty front door.

He then hurried off to the back room to send the note. He frowned at what Shadow told him to send: _"There's something worse than this."_

What could that mean?

**Sonic "I don't want to know."**

**Katherine "Good heavens."**

**Shadow "Anyways, you were telling me about the spoon. What was it made out of again?"**

**Katherine *anime tear drop* "The story just showed you walking into a telegram store with the worst news ever yet you still want to know what Zap's metal spoon is made out of?"**

**Shadow "Yes. That sounds about right."**

**Katherine "We are obviously related."**

**Shadow *smirks***

**Me *sighs* "ANYWAYS, next chapter won't come out until you review. Review about Zap and I'll tell him about it. He should come out of the Mobian hospital tomorrow (they're the only ones who would take him in)… anyways… oh! Also, go to my profile and put up what you want on my poll. No, I won't tell you what it is, that'll ruin it! See you when the next chapter comes around!"**


	15. It's Taking Over

**HELLO MY FAVORITE READERS! Thanks again for being so loyal with me and getting this far into the stories. I know true fans make it to chapter fourteen :P**

**Zap "And… I'm back from the hospital."**

**Windy "With still one person in your fan club- pity."**

**Zap *glares* "You can't say anything, you don't have one."**

**Windy *glares back* "…."**

**Me "Uh… okay… anyways, this chapter was brought to you by: Guest!"**

**Guest= Shadow *smirks* "First place! I knew I'd make it!"  
Katherine "Whatever! You know I'll pass you sooner or later!"  
Xerius **_**"I foresee the future. I know I'll win."**_**  
Katherine *glares* "How do I know you're not saying it because you're worried you're going to lose and are trying not to convince yourself that you're going to lose…?"  
Xerius and Katherine *glare at each other*  
Xsus "Yes! The Snack that smiles back- goldfish! :D oh, that belongs to the goldfish company… and it is my nightmare that came true- noooo!"  
Haha, I had to make the mysterious bad guy seem to be extremely powerful so I had him get rid of Mephiles (I admit it, he's my favorite Sonic bad guy besides Metal Sonic). Also, they call Shadow emo sometimes because he's always silent and his personality is kind of dark at times and miserable. That's true too the scepter does backfire on people… haha. And the spoon: made out of metal. I know. Very amazing. But it **_**is**_** Zap. Anyways, thanks for the review guest so this one can come out!**

**Disclaimer= I don't own ANYTHING that's SEGA's. If I owned anything that belonged to SEGA then this would be a game for all of you to play with Sierra being one of the boses so you could enjoy being your fav Sonic character or one of my OCs and kicking her in the face :D  
Xsus "Water Splash her in the face! Yay!"**

**Chapter Fourteen: It's Taking Over**

TEAM SHADOW

"Come on! They're getting away!" Katherine called as she ran. Xsus was somehow managing to keep up with her as the two ran through the small town. The name of the town was unknown since the sign had been knocked down so Cream and Xsus agreed on naming it Wafflevile.

Katherine used the wind to bounce herself onto the rooftops and Xsus used water from a hose someone was using to water their flowers to help himself bounce up there. "Thanks!" He called back to the stunned Gardner.

They ran along the rooftops and in the distance, Katherine saw a sight that made her grind her teeth angrily. Sierra and Towers: her two least favorite people. She pulled out her sword as they raced after them.

Sierra glanced back and groaned when she saw them, twirling with her scepter. "Great of all times…"

Towers turned around and launched an array of bullets at them. Katherine slid to a stop with a gasp and covered her hands around her head as Xsus, carrying the water used to help him up the roof, flung it before them. He closed his hand into a fist and the water turned into ice. The bullets bounced harmlessly off of them.

"Thanks, Xsus." Katherine gasped as Xsus opened his hand and the ice turned into water again, dropping the bullets that made it into the ice.

Xsus grinned as Katherine bolted after the runaways as they ran off.

"You'll never catch us!" Sierra called back to them as they ran.

Katherine gritted her teeth, knowing that might be true unless the tables were turned. That is… until a bad idea flashed through Katherine's brain. She told herself that she would pay dearly for this later but this was turning into a dire situation. She had to find her brother and she would not give up until she went insane with loss.

She turned to Xsus. "Xsus! I have something to tell you."

"What is it?" Xsus asked, confused.

"Sierra happens to have a box of waffles in her back pocket you know."

Xsus' eyes grew to the size of dinner plates. "SHE DOES? And she's not _sharing_?"

"Nope! You're going to have to hurry and catch up with her before she eats them all you know." Katherine said, regretting every moment of this. She wasn't a good liar, but she could tell Xsus was falling for it.

Xsus lifted a fist and the water rose into the air. "FOR THE WAFFLES!" He battle cried and charged towards Sierra, running even faster than Katherine was.

Katherine ran towards Towers. She needed to get rid of that gun. Once the gun was gone maybe she could force answers out of the old G.U.N. commander about Shadow's whereabouts.

Xsus tackled Sierra. "My waffles!" He growled angrily as Sierra fell. She let out a cry as they rolled over the edge of the building and fell, down to an alleyway below. Sierra used dark magic to stop her fall and Xsus used water. They both looked at each other and Xsus lifted a fist. "So, you think you can keep all those waffles to yourself, huh?"

"What are you talking about?" Sierra growled, irritated that she got knocked off the roof by a mere _boy_. And not just any boy, a boy that demanded for something she didn't have: waffles. She glanced up and saw Katherine running towards Towers and she gritted her teeth as the realization hit her. "Katherine…!"

Xsus flung water at her and Sierra rolled out of the way and turned to him. "Leave this place, boy and I might let you live!"

"But I already am alive!" Xsus giggled.

Sierra sighed as Xsus threw water at her. It smacked her in the face and she flew backwards into a brick wall. She growled and her eyes gleamed red and black for a moment, scaring the light out of Xsus. "Ah!" He wailed and turned around before booking it with Sierra chasing him, sword and scepter raised.

_MEANWHILE…_

Katherine slid to a stop in front of Towers. "Got you." She growled as she grabbed his gun.

Towers smiled darkly. "Ah! Project Dimension! How good it is to see you! How is your brother, Project Shadow? Oh right, I forgot. He's missing because the master took him."

Katherine growled. "Let Shadow go!"

Towers ignored her and glanced at the gun. "Now please let go of my gun. I happen to like it very much."

"Not in a million years, Towers."

"Well you should…" Towers stopped for a moment, looking thoughtful. "Because it's mine, and not yours. So you better _let go_!"

He yanked it forward, causing Katherine to fly forward but she managed to keep a grip on the gun and yank it forward too, causing Towers to slide after her.

Towers growled angrily and started spinning; picking Katherine off the ground and starting to spin in a circle as well. Katherine kept her grip tight on the gun until she managed to find solid ground again. She grinned as she used Towers' force against him and spun _him_ in a circle instead. Except, Towers managed to go one loop around until he found the ground again.

The two glared at each other then Towers looked at the gun, a grin escaping his lips. He started cocking it and Katherine gaped, trying to stop him. It was too late though, he grinned, pulled the trigger and gunfire echoed everywhere as bullets flew through the air.

Towers' grin vanished when he saw that Katherine managed to barely dodge it. She stumbled backwards, let out a cry, and fell off the rooftops. Towers leaned over and shot down towards her as Katherine teleported out of the way, dodging all the bullets miraculously.

Katherine appeared on a rooftop far away, gasped and ducked as Towers spun on her and shot again. She dived off as the building collapsed under the pressure of gunfire.

Towers started moving towards the fallen building with a smirk and could only watch as Katherine flew out from under a ton of concrete, somehow still alive, and teleport away.

The G.U.N. commander growled angrily, throwing his gun on the ground. His eyes glowed red and black for a moment as he let out an angry yell while Katherine reappeared and ran for her dear life, trying to locate Xsus.

_Not too far away…_

Xsus hid nervously in a pomegranate tree. The smell of the sweet fruit was thick in the air but he managed to resist plucking one because Sierra was marching around below. "I know you're here, boy!" She roared. "Come out and face me!"

Xsus didn't move as Sierra walked past him. He glanced into the Lemon Tree across the street and saw Katherine appear in it. She gave Xsus a look and made weird hand signs that only Light Givers would understand.

The boy nodded and glanced at Sierra while Katherine teleported away. He took a deep breath as she stood right before him his hand wrapped around a pomegranate and he dropped out of the tree silently. Sierra turned to him in surprise as he chucked the fruit at her.

It hit her in the face as Xsus used water to wrap around her scepter and pull it towards him. It landed in his hand as Katherine appeared next to him, grabbed his hand, and then teleported both of them away.

Sierra wiped the pomegranate off her face and growled angrily. She lost it. She had lost the Scepter of Darkness. She lifted her black sword and smashed it into the pomegranate tree, causing the large tree to fall over. "You fools!" She roared.

-XXXXXXXX-

Sonic the hedgehog lead his exhausted team into a diner Xerius had pointed out. As they gathered in, they saw a stunning sight before them.

Xsus was taking Cream around for a dance while Katherine, Knuckles, Tikal, and Maria were playing cards at the table with the Scepter of Darkness sitting in the middle of the table. Rouge the bat gasped when she saw it.

She ran up to the table. "What are you guys doing with this? Don't you know it's dangerous?"

Knuckles glanced over at her. "Oh, hello Rouge."

"We're playing Go Fish with face cards! Winner takes the scepter!" Maria said cheerfully as she turned to Katherine. "Got any Kings?"

"What is it with you always knowing my cards?" Katherine grumbled as she pushed a King of Hearts over to Maria.

Sonic stood next to Rouge. "So… how's your search with Shadow going?" He asked, crossing his arms and trying not to sound as annoyed as he felt. They spent hours looking for Eggman, even after going to his base they found no clues telling where he was. Meanwhile, it looked like all these fools did was sit around in a diner playing games and dancing.

Tikal looked back at Sonic. "Good, you're here too, Sonic. Katherine wanted to ask Rouge a question about this." She waved a hand to the scepter. "Katherine said that Xerius would know where we were and lead you here."

Sonic sighed, it did explain why Xerius wanted to go here more than that chilidog stand. He really wanted that one chilidog with the… Sonic realized he was getting off topic and shook his head. He looked back at Xerius. "Is that true, Xerius?"

Xerius nodded and then got hugged by Xsus. "Xerius!" He cried. "You're okay!"

Xerius rolled his eyes and patted Xsus on the head gently until he finally let go.

Gerald Robotnik ran up and hugged Maria. "Are you okay?" He asked her.

"I'm fine, grandpa." Maria promised as she slid an Ace over to Knuckles. "So Rouge, have you seen this thing before? Katherine thinks this is _the_ Scepter of Darkness but I don't know and neither does anyone else. The only ones that could know are either you and Shadow, and maybe Silver. And since Shadow's not here…" Maria stopped and looked sad for a moment until shaking her head and looked at Rouge again.

Xerius crossed his arms as he stood next to Rouge. Rouge glanced over at him and then looked at Maria. "I've seen this thing before. Mephiles was trapped in it when Shadow and I first let him out. Where did you find it?"

"Sierra had it." Katherine said dryly. "Xsus managed to get it away from her but something's off with her. She seemed a little more… clumsy. She never falls for simple tricks and she managed to fall for one when Xsus threw a pomegranate at her."

Xerius became thoughtful. _"That doesn't sound like Sierra. If that's the case though, why would she have the Scepter of Darkness? Is it possible we're just missing a seriously important detail?"_

Katherine blinked and glanced over at Xerius and everyone else looked better. It hit Rouge that she had never heard him talk before and she smiled before glancing at Xerius. "Oh so _now_ you talk again."

Xerius shrugged, and said nothing again while Xsus hugged him tightly again. "I _knew_ you could talk, Xerius! I knew it!"

Katherine shook her head, trying to not act too shocked. "Anyways, yeah. Xerius… is right. I was thinking we were missing something so we all agreed on regrouping so we can get an idea of what we're facing."

Tails frowned. "Hm… I do have an idea." He pulled Metal Sonic forward. He looked better than he did when Sonic's team first found him. His red eyes were still a bit dim and he was moving around like he was shivering. "Metal Sonic, can you try to explain to Katherine what you saw?"

Metal Sonic turned his red eyes on Katherine then everyone else as Cream grabbed Xsus' arm tightly. "He still scares me." She whispered in his ear.

Xsus managed to resist laughing while Metal Sonic looked straight ahead. "I remember seeing darkness… after the doctor threw his useless smoke attack. It was so cold and so dark… but also welcoming. I knew something was wrong so I ran, I ran away but no one else made it."

Katherine frowned, lacing her fingers together and looking thoughtful. "No one… no one else made it?"

"Affirmative."

E-123 Omega spoke up. "MAYBE THERE IS SOMETHING WRONG WITH HIS CIRCITS. HE COULD BE LYING FOR ALL WE KNOW TO THROW US OFF TRACK."

Metal Sonic turned on him angrily. "Negative. I would never do such a thing when I saw something as horrifying as what I saw."

Omega made a strange sound. "I DISAGREE."

"Stop it, Omega." Katherine said, lifting a hand. Omega became silent and both robots turned to look at her as Katherine laced her fingers again and rested her chin on them. She glanced at the robots then at the overturned cards on the table around the Scepter of Darkness. "I don't think he's lying… I've met someone who was under the influence of darkness and explained it the very same way Metal Sonic has. I just… have to talk to him first."

Xerius frowned. _"Who?"_

"Can't tell… sorry Xerius, everyone." Katherine stood then suddenly her eyes widened and she pulled out her emerald from her pocket. She looked into the emerald and frowned then her eyes widened. "Silver? What's up?"

Silver's voice echoed in. "Sorry to bother you guys… oh it looks like Sonic's there too! Even better! Anyways, I got a telegraph for you and Maria, Katherine."

Katherine frowned. "I thought those went out of business."

_"That's in our dimension." _Xerius said flatly.

"Oh, right, what's the news, Silver?"

Silver coughed. "From what I gather, your brother sent it."

Katherine paled. "Go on…"

"And all that it says is: 'there's something worse than this'."

There was a moment of silence until Katherine swallowed. "Is Windy or Zap there?" She asked nervously.

"We're here." Zap's voice called from the background.

"Alright, I'll be there soon. Don't you two go anywhere." Katherine glanced over at Metal Sonic. "Can you come too?"

Metal Sonic nodded. "Affirmative. I have nowhere else to go now."

Sonic grinned. "We'll come along too. I want to know what Shadow's telegram means."

Katherine flashed him a smile as she stood up and turned off her message with Silver. Rouge took the Scepter of Darkness from the table and everyone started gathering up, getting ready to go when the door opened again.

"Sonic!" A voice cried.

Sonic turned around in shock. "Eggman?"

The fat doctor ran up to him and fell at his knees. "You have to help me, Sonic! Someone took over my base!"

"What?" Sonic frowned.

"You see…" The doctor coughed. "I was running after you and your team, threw my smoke bomb, and when the smoke cleared, I found myself in the middle of Misty Forest. I had shrugged, for I didn't know what the thing was supposed to do anyways. I went back to my base and started working on my next evil plan for I thought all the dead people I had made an alliance with were killed in the blast, but knowing you Sonic, you most likely survived, as usual.

"As I was working, I realized something was wrong with my security system so I tried working on them. As I worked, one of my cameras pulled up a black mass slowly consuming the hallways. I tried everything to stop it, blasting it, putting doors up, but it went through it like it was a ghost or something. So, I ran off to find you, and here I am. Now come help me save my base!"

"EGGMAN IS ASKING FOR HELP?" Omega mused. "THIS IS UNORIGNINAL AND WILL ONLY LEAD TO SOMETHING BAD HAPPENING."

"Affirmative." Metal Sonic agreed. "Eggman has never done anything for good intentions."

Sonic nodded. "Yeah… besides when you helped us out last time you turned against us and almost got all of us killed."

"So?" Eggman demanded, hurt by Sonic's choice of words.

"So what? I'm just saying I can't trust you."

"He's coming with us." Katherine suddenly spoke up. Everyone looked back at her in surprise as she held her emerald in her hand tightly. "He has more proof of what I think is going on. And… if it is… then Shadow's words are right. There _is_ something worse out there."

She marched out the door and after a moment of silence, everyone followed her with Sonic glaring at Eggman. In the back of everyone's mind, they wondered what Katherine was talking about.

**Next chapter is done! Review so the next chapter can come out, go to my profile and vote on my poll (still not telling you what it's about). And all that good stuff. See you when the next chapter comes around!**

**Katherine "You know… I'm getting a bad feeling about this…"**

**Windy *pales* "Last time that happened, Maria died! Quick Zap, grab the spoons!"**

**Zap *bolts out of the room***

**Xsus *hides underneath bed and makes whimpering sounds***

**Me *face palms* "Can you believe them?"**

**Xerius *shakes head no***


	16. Teaming Up

**Hi people and welcome to Chapter Fifteen! Um… just letting you guys know the story is getting serious very quickly- obviously. Especially once this chapter is over with… oh whatever. You'll find out once the chapter's done. ANYWAYS, this chapter was brought to you by: Guest!**

**Guest= Xsus "Yay I'm in the competition now!"  
Katherine "Yes! First place! Take **_**that**_** Shadow!"  
Shadow "Humph! At least I'm in second."  
Xerius "…"  
Me "Hmmm… what **_**would**_** happen if Zap played that card game with Spoons? I think if he'd lose he'd shock everyone with his spoon and run off with the winnings… typical Zap. And if he won, he'd brag about it for a few years. Haha, 'This is Halloween' music coming on, that would've been the perfect moment there! Now, prepare for things to get a lot more fun! And thanks for the review so this chapter could come out!"**

**Disclaimer= Katherine "The author owns nothing that belongs to SEGA!"  
Xsus "Nope! Only owns us Dimension Jumpers and the professors Annie, Darren, and Scarecrow! Oh… and she also owns that cookie over there…"  
Katherine "Xsus? No."  
Xsus *pouts***

**Chapter Fifteen: Teaming Up**

Silver the hedgehog paced nervously around the room with Blaze the cat watching him. Jason, Ria, and Chase were standing outside, guarding the entrance of the cave while they waited for Teams Sonic and Shadow to show up.

"Where are they?" Silver grumbled as he marched past Zap and Windy, who were watching him with amused looks on their faces.

Shade shook her head. "Knowing Sonic, he'll show up when you least expect it."

Silver grumbled. "That doesn't change anything."

Jason suddenly ran in. "They're here!"

Silver's eyes lit up and he stopped pacing. "Great! Where are they?"

Jason opened his mouth to answer but became quiet as Katherine suddenly ran through the door and turned to Windy and Zap. "You two! I need to talk to you, _now_."

"Oh great," Windy glanced at Zap. "What did you do?"

"What?" Zap threw his hands into the air. "I didn't do _anything_. I swear it."

"Not now!" Katherine clasped her hands together and both of them looked at her. "This is serious!"

Everyone else gathered around in the room and Eggman looked amused. "This is obviously a place Shadow built with a Chaos Blast."

Metal Sonic frowned. "I did not know a place like this existed. No wonder we could not find the Master Emerald."

"What are _they _doing here?" Silver demanded pointing at Eggman and Metal Sonic as Katherine pulled Zap and Windy out of the cave. Rouge walked over to the Master Emerald and gently laid the Scepter of Darkness down on top of it, like it was made of dynamite.

Soon the three were outside and Katherine turned to Windy and Zap. "I think he's back. The one that you two were confused about not being there in our home dimension."

Zap paled and shook his head. "I-Impossible. This isn't his home dimension."

"I don't get it either." Katherine sighed. "Metal Sonic explained to me the darkness he saw and it was the same way you explained it long ago. Eggman also mentioned that while a weird dark matter took over the base it went through walls and other matter."

Zap shook his head. "No, no, no! It can't be him!"

"Calm down," Windy said, waving her hands up and down at Zap. "Now is not the time to panic, even if it_ is_ him."

Katherine titled her head to one side. "What should we do though? If it is him then… then… none of us are safe."

Zap shook his head. "If what Metal Sonic says is true… then are our enemies in this dimension are controlled?"

"He did mention them being gone."

"Then that explains why time is stopping. He has control over Mephiles and since Mephiles controls time he controls time now too. He would also probably want the Master Emerald so time could _stay_ stopped."

Windy barred her teeth. "If that's the case then we can't trust anyone anymore but each other."

Katherine frowned. "I wish I was there to help you guys when this happened. How did you stop him in the end?"

Windy shook her head. "We didn't. The new leader of darkness stopped him by putting poison in his drink and did nothing as he lay dying."

There was a moment of silence and Zap sighed. "We need to tell the others. We can't keep a three way secret of a degree this serious silent for long."

The three went back inside, where Silver and Sonic were arguing about whether or not Metal Sonic and Eggman should stay still. Zap lifted his hands. "Everyone!"

When no one heard him he crossed his arms and snapped his fingers. The lights went out and as everyone screamed in fear, he turned them back on with another snap and an annoyed look on his face. Everyone in the room looked at him as he sighed. "Thank you."

"Alright, I got an announcement to make!" Katherine called as she took a step forward. Everyone began sitting down in chairs, as if they all knew this was going to take awhile. Although, when Cream looked for a seat near Xsus and found none near him, she ended up just sitting on his lap.

Katherine smiled at the two and looked at everyone else. "Anyways, I have an idea people on what's going on and none of you are going to like it."

When no one said anything, Katherine continued, putting her hands behind her back and pacing around. "In my home dimension… well… in _our_ home dimension, there was an evil leader of the Followers of Darkness named Terrarock."

"Tear a rock?" Silver wondered.

"No, Terra-rock." Katherine glanced at him. She continued moving around, turning her attention back to the floor. "While I was on the Space Colony ARK over fifty years ago, Windy and Zap had to fight him. He was well known for being extremely evil and able to control people thanks to his power of darkness… I'll just let them explain."

Windy and Zap glanced at each other and Windy stepped forward while Katherine took a spot on the floor next to Maria. "As Katherine was saying, yes Terrarock was a very evil being. He was known for being able to control people, both good and bad with his powers of darkness to do his every whim. He was eventually killed by one of his allies that managed to escape his control by them slipping poison into his drink."

The Dimension Jumper took a deep breath before continuing. "Terrarock was… supposed to come back in our dimension for the Day of the Dead. However, he never showed up or stuck up his ugly little face around so none of us saw him. Zap and I were hopeful that he would never show up but it looks like we were wrong. From the information we gathered from Metal Sonic about feeling the power of darkness to Eggman with his observations about the darkness going through things, it points that Terrarock might be back trying to control the world in this dimension."

There were nervous whispers exchanged throughout the group as soon as Windy paused for a moment to let the information sink in.

Windy glanced back at Zap, who nodded. "A… friend… of mine was under the influence of darkness and they described as if they felt like being a puppet, doing Terrarock's every whim without asking a single question. He managed to break free… at a price of never being the same again. Therefore, some of our enemies might not act the same way because they are under Terrarock's influence. Terrarock is probably here so he can gather the Chaos Emeralds and come back alive so he can rule once more."

Tails frowned as he sat on one of the couches with Amy, Sonic, and Cosmo. "If he was supposed to come back to your dimension, then what is he doing in ours?"

Zap shook his head. "We don't know but maybe we can figure it out if we catch one of his servants. However, the only way for us to know if they're under his control is if their eyes turn different colors for a moment."

"Wait!" Xsus lifted a hand and peaked over Cream's shoulder. "What color do their eyes turn?"

"A red and black color," Windy said slowly. "Why ask? Have you… seen this?"

"Yeah," Xsus said. "Sierra's eyes flashed that color when I was fighting with her earlier today."

Katherine frowned. "And Towers' eyes turned that color too for a moment…"

Zap and Windy said nothing but the looks on their faces were a mixture of disturbed, horrified, and worried. Windy glanced at Zap and he stepped forward. "That's him. It has got to be him. Terrarock is back and he's back to take over this dimension."

-XXXXXXXX-

Shadow the hedgehog limped his way down the abandoned street, with one hand clasping his right shoulder tightly to stop the blood flowing out of it. He leaned on his left food heavily while his right dragged behind him, barely doing anything useful. The hedgehog looked upwards towards the large, snowy mountains before him and looked around for the cave the others should be in. No doubt some were worried about him, Katherine and Maria especially.

However, the snow cleverly hid the cave from view and Shadow cursed himself for being a genius in the art of hiding things.

He limped along, his thoughts growing dim and his head spinning. Shadow had to get back to the others, to warn them, they were going to need him to fight the monster he saw when he was first captured.

They needed him.

Maria needed him.

He felt his eyes watering up, wondering if he'd pass out she'd disappear forever without him even getting the chance to say goodbye to the thing he held most dear. A tear slipped down his face and the Ultimate Life Form didn't even brush it away. No one was here to see him. No Mobians, no animals, no plants, nobody, the only thing that could was the harsh, cold wind and the dark, friendless clouds overhead.

Shadow winced as his right foot hit a rock and bit hit tongue hard enough to taste blood to avoid crying out. Irritated, he spat the mouthful of blood out and wiped his mouth with his free hand. That was disgusting.

He looked back at the mountain again and suddenly felt dizzy from the lack of food and water he had over the last hours- or with time being stopped- days. Stubbornly, he shook his head and tried to move forward. _Come on…_ he told himself. _Just a few more feet. I cannot give up to something as simple as having a lack of things. I'm the Ultimate Life Form! Things like this aren't supposed to happen to me. When I get back I'm going to talk to Gerald about this…_

Shadow stumbled and fell, hitting the asphalt hard. He bit his tongue again but the pain passed by quickly this time. Without trying to get up, he started pulling himself on the ground until his arms screamed for him to stop, which he did.

He laid on the ground, feeling totally useless. _This is pathetic. I have to get back to the others!_ He thought. Shadow pushed himself back to his feet and as soon as he stood again, he looked back at the mountain with a look of worry on his face. He found himself breathing heavily after a moment and shook his head, but felt twice as dizzy now then he had before.

_I must… get back… to that… mountain!_ Shadow growled as he took a step forward but his only working leg gave out underneath him and Shadow fell to the ground. He closed his eyes as the world spun and passed out cold.

**See? Very serious. Alright, review so the next chapter can come out and all that other good stuff. Also, I got a poll on my profile as I mentioned in the last two chapters or so (that I'm not telling what it is still) so go on there and vote on it.**

**Katherine *grins* "So review and vote!"**


	17. Founded

**This Author's dreams have come true! I got reviews! And lots of them! You will never understand how happy I was to see so many reviews! Therefore: this chapter came out before tomorrow!**

**Xsus *Runs around house screaming with glee***

**Me "Look! You even got Xsus happy! These reviews were brought to you by Guest, Maraya Prower, raeweis, and the new reviewer: ballandcup!"**

**Guest= Yeah… I updated earlier today (and later too obviously lol) although, it depends on where you are in the world reading this… **_**anyways**_**, yeah. Zap's scared: that's normally **_**not**_** a good thing. Glad you're liking the story and to me any review long or short works for me as long as somebody does it :D. Thank you so much for reviewing on practically every chapter so far.  
Katherine "Still in the lead, score!"  
Shadow and Xerius *rolls eyes***

**Maraya Prower= Ta Da! Your update is here! :D and yes, you said the magic words haha. And yeah… find Sierra- heaven forbid. And practically at this point the Day of the Dead ends tomorrow for them but since time is stopped tomorrow might never come. And alright! Alright! Calm down! I'm sure someone's going to find Shadow sooner or later- lol.**

**Raeweis= Welcome back! So yeah, Terrarock is very bad news and I'm with you all the way. I hope the others can survive while the story gets serious too. And yep, Xsus and Cream make one of the best couples known to the dimensions.**

**Ballandcup= Thank you so flipping much for all of your reviews- even if they were little one word comments or more they were still enough to make me smile. Glad you liked Dimension Jumpers (the other dimension is amazing btw I think my next story it'll have one where everyone goes to their dimension instead) and I hope by the time you get to this chapter you'll like it just as much too! Thank you **_**so**_** much for the review!**

**DISCLAIMER= the usual. Don't own SEGA, Dimension Jumpers and etc. belong to me blah, blah, blah, okay to the story!**

**Chapter Seventeen: Founded**

Xerius walked into the room, his face as white as a sheet, and his hands shaking uncontrollably. He took a seat at the kitchen counter next to Rouge. His brown eyes were big and he stared at the counter top expressionlessly.

"How did you sleep, Xie?" Rouge glanced at Xerius as she painted her nails black. She frowned at the look on his face and screwed the lid of the fingernail polish on tight before placing a hand on Xerius' shoulder. "Xie? Xerius?"

Xerius slowly shook his head, looking dazed and scared. Rouge frowned and found herself unsure of what to do.

Xsus was suddenly there. "Xerius? Is something wrong?"

This time, Xerius nodded.

"Do you want me to get the others in attention?"

Another nod.

"HEY! PEOPLE!" Xsus yelled to the others that were cheering on a Basketball game. Xsus scowled when he realized no one looked over to pay attention to him, besides Cream. Xsus flashed her a smile before returning his scowl to the others. "I'll give you a cookie if you listen up!" He called, but got no response.

Xerius clenched a fist and turned around to look at them. _"Do any of you ever listen to Xsus?"_

Everyone froze and looked back at him. Xsus coughed, trying not to grin at the fact that Xerius said his name for the first time ever. "Xerius has an announcement to make."

Xerius turned the stool around and looked at the ground for a moment. _"I… I saw… I saw something from the future."_

That got everyone's attention. Sonic the hedgehog shut off the TV as everyone turned to look at Xerius. The silent warrior fiddled with his fingers as then turned his attention up at everyone. No one could remember a time he was this antsy about something. His eyes narrowed and he finally spoke up. _"In the vision, I saw most of us standing before a large castle wall, it looked something that was made recently and was made out of hundreds of black bricks. There were tall towers behind the wall and what looked like a town…"_

"Sounds like something from the middle ages." Rouge muttered next to him. When Xerius glared at her she lifted a hand. "Sorry! Please continue."

_"As I was saying, it had a town behind the wall and a figure standing in black clothes, like that of a Follower of Darkness, and was standing before the wall with minions all around it. The minions were all people that we've seen before, Sierra, Towers, Chaos, Dark Oak… except their eyes were glowing red and black, like they were being mind controlled._

_"Then, the figure made a move, throwing a bolt of lightning down and hitting some of us, killing us instantly. Then, it became a mass murder with it slowly killing all of us…" _Xerius stopped and put his hands over his ears like he could hear the ones being killed screaming in his ears. Rouge put a hand on his shoulder. He gave her a thankful look and took a deep breath. _"And… that's what I saw."_

"Who was killed?" Zap asked softly.

_"Maria… Xsus… Cream… Ria… Chase… Cosmo, Tails, Amy, the professors, myself, Rouge, Silver, Blaze, Jason, Katherine, Knuckles… practically everyone except three people."_ He lifted up three fingers to prove his point.

"Who made it?" Sonic wondered.

Xerius' eyes flashed darkly and he looked up at hedgehog. _"Sonic made it. But it showed a side future where you're suffering through the insane asylum. The next one was Windy, but that might be because she's immortal. And the third one… stays strictly between me and Zap for a side conversation."_

Zap frowned. "Very well." He made a hand motion to follow and Xerius stood up. The two walked to the far side of the room and Zap started talking to him in a low voice that no one could make out. Even with Rouge and Xsus with their large ears couldn't hear anything.

"Wonder who the third person is." Shade muttered.

"I'm not going to make it..." Cosmo said sadly. "After working so far it looks like we're going to achieve nothing."

Everyone else looked just as crestfallen.

Katherine lifted a hand. "Hey! Hold on people, we can't just give up yet. Xerius' visions of the future are always there for a warning. They don't _always_ happen. The future is the future, therefore it can change for the better. Silver, Blaze, you of all people should know that."

Silver and Blaze glanced at each other and nodded. "But how are we going to deflect the electric bolt if it does happen?" Blaze wondered.

"I can block electricity," Ria stood up. "Zap taught me a thing or two about it."

"And Zap could help you!" Xsus said cheerfully.

Ria nodded. "It looks like we can survive this after all! As long as we work together we can make it out of this!"

Everyone else nodded, looking hopeful now.

"Oh how cute… you guys actually think you can survive." A voice said in the corner of the room. Everyone froze at the sound of the voice, all of them recognizing it.

Windy spun around angrily. "Sierra!" She hissed.

"Windy," Sierra dipped her head, a smirk relevant on her face. She glanced to the left where the Master Emerald and Scepter of Darkness was placed and her smirk turned into a dark grin before she returned her attention back to the others.

Katherine pulled out her sword and jumped towards Sierra. "Get out." She barked, and Sonic couldn't help but grin, she sounded like Shadow there for a moment.

Sierra frowned. "What's the word I'm looking for here… ah right, no." She suddenly lunged forward, grabbing the Master Emerald as she did so. She waved her hand before it and a black mass surrounded it as she picked up the Scepter of Darkness.

"No! The Master Emerald!" Knuckles jumped forward but Sierra kicked him in the stomach and he flew backwards into Windy and the two fell over.

Xsus jumped forward with Tikal and Shade and all three got knocked back as Sierra pulled out her sword. The mass that covered the emerald started to disappear, taking the large emerald with it until it was gone completely.

Sierra grinned. "Thank you for the emerald and scepter."

As Xerius and Zap charged she glanced at them and her eyes turned a red and black color, stopping both of them in their tracks. She let out a joyous laugh before running out of the cave, taking the Master Emerald and Scepter of Darkness with her.

"Stop her!" Sonic yelled as he started running forward, but a hand grabbed his arm and forced him to stop. Sonic looked back and growled angrily. "Amy!"

"No Sonic! It's too dangerous! Her eyes just turned that black and red color! I don't want you to be controlled too!" Amy pouted.

Katherine shook her head and ran out of the cave, chasing Sierra and Silver ran after her while the others stayed in the cave shocked. Windy turned to Zap and Xerius as she pushed an unconscious Knuckles off of her. "What was that about? Just because her eyes turned red and black _doesn't_ mean you two can chicken out."

Ria ran over to Knuckles and started healing him while Zap shook his head. "I-I- I don't… I…"

Windy sighed, closing her eyes and shaking her head slowly. "Whatever… let's just hope Katherine and Silver make it back alive and uncontrolled."

-XXXXXXXX-

"Come on, Silver!" Katherine said as they slid down the mountain, after Sierra as she seemed to fly down the hill.

Silver shook his head. "What the heck is she doing with the Master Emerald and the Scepter of Darkness anyways? I thought it was only the Chaos Emeralds that bring you back to life!"

Katherine shrugged. "Do I look like a Master Emerald or Scepter of Darkness specialist to you?"

Silver frowned. She had a point.

Katherine tripped and started falling down the hill. She crashed into Sierra and the duo tumbled their way down the hill while Silver managed to stay standing. When they reached the bottom of the mountain, Sierra got up like she just fell down a simple blow up slide and ran while Katherine struggled to her feet, a hand on her head.

"Are you okay?" Silver asked her, sliding to a stop next to her.

Katherine nodded, shook her head, and glanced at Sierra as the girl started running alongside an, old, abandoned road. "There she is!"

The two started running after her again. Silver glanced around and couldn't help but notice that nothing was out here, no people, no animals, not even any plants were growing out here. Only a blanket of snow sat over everything and the dark clouds above made it no less intimidating.

Their feet pounded on the asphalt as it seemed that Sierra was starting to get away. The scenery around them started turning into a blur as the two ran faster and Sierra- if possible- ran even faster. There was no way they could catch up to her if they didn't pick things up.

Suddenly, Katherine let out a gasp and slid to a stop, leaving Silver.

Silver slid to a stop and looked back at her. "Katherine! What are you doing? We have to stop Sierra!"

Katherine slowly turned around, like she was checking to see if a monster was behind her.

"Katherine!" Silver growled. He shook his head as he saw Sierra teleport away and turned to Katherine angrily before marching towards her. "You just let Sierra get away! What is with that? Since when do you let Sierra just get away with stealing something as powerful as the Master Emerald and the Scepter of Darkness? The enemy is practically unstoppable now! You better have a good reason on… oh." By now Silver was standing next to Katherine to see what she was staring at.

_Silver's POV_

Shadow. Shadow the hedgehog was lying on the ground and looked half dead. Katherine let out a strangled cry and stumbled towards him. I, not sure what to say or do, stood there as Katherine fell to the ground and turned him over onto his back and placed one of her large ears on his chest, listening desperately for a heartbeat.

One second passed… two seconds… I wondered how long he had been out here. His fur looked singed and he was covered in scratches and bruises, one particular scratch I noticed was on his shoulder and his left glove was bloody, probably from holding his hand on his shoulder. A fine layer of snow was on top of his body that had been pushed off by Katherine.

Five seconds… tears formed up in Katherine's eyes as she turned her head around and buried her face in Shadow's fur, not finding a heartbeat. I slowly walked up beside her and sat down quietly next to her, unsure of what else to do, I put a hand on her shoulder as Katherine started sobbing.

"He- he's gone!" She stuttered, her shoulders shaking.

"It's not your fault." I said quietly, trying to think of what else to say. How do you calm down a horrified girl? I knew if this was Xsus, I'd give him a cookie and he'd happily move on with his life but Katherine was _nothing_ like Xsus.

"All these years…" Katherine sobbed, more to Shadow then to me. "And you leave _now_?"

There was silence after that, besides Katherine crying. I patted her shoulder gently, trying and probably failing to make her feel better.

Maybe five minutes passed until Katherine slowly lifted her head out of Shadow's fur and sniffed, tears streaming down her face like a waterfall. She clenched her fists tightly and slowly closed her eyes, lifting her fists towards her face. "All that time in Prison Island together, all those times running down the hallways, you _can't_ leave now Shadow!" She yelled into the air. "You're the only family I've ever had!"

She started crying harder now and I wished I knew what to do. After a moment, she fell onto me and started sobbing into my shoulder. I blinked in surprise, unsure what to do before I cautiously wrapped my arms around her in the form of a hug.

We stayed like that for maybe a few minutes and I looked down at Shadow's body with a frown. How did he end up like this? Did Sierra kill him as she tried to get to the cave? Who knew… and probably none of us would ever know. I glanced away and looked towards the mountain we had left earlier, not seeing the cave from here.

Before I knew it, I realized I was brushing Katherine's hair and it was starting to calm her down a little. I felt my face turn red. What was I doing?

"What are you doing?" A gruff voice asked me, echoing my thoughts.

I froze, recognizing the voice and glancing back at Shadow. He was alive… oh my gosh he was alive! The dead hedgehog was with us once more and it looked like he was going to kill me! "Shadow!" I gasped and Katherine pulled away from me and looked over at him as Shadow sat up, wincing and holding onto his shoulder.

"Shadow?" She said quietly.

Shadow raised an eyebrow as her face lit up like a birthday candle and she hugged him tightly. "Don't you _ever_ do that again!" She said as she hugged him tightly, her face was buried in his fur, making her words muffled.

Shadow gave me a death look and I wondered what I did wrong. I shrugged innocently as he wrapped an arm protectively over Katherine, glaring at me still.

Katherine pulled back and looked at him. "What happened to you? I thought you were dead…"

"Almost…" Shadow admitted, looking at Katherine. "But not entirely dead. I'm still close to being dead however. Good thing you came."

"You scared the light out of me!" Katherine frowned. "I thought you were dead and if you were dead who was going to tell Maria that _someone_…"

Shadow smirked. "Well, you don't have to tell her anymore."

Katherine checked her pockets and she handed over a small package of saltine crackers over to him. "You look famished, Shadow."

Shadow looked at them with a frown.

"It's all I have… and I don't think Silver brought anything… did you?" Katherine glanced back at me and I shook my head while Shadow glared at me again.

Shadow took the saltine crackers and ate them like he had never had food in the past month. Katherine cracked a smile while I got distracted with a snowflake floating in the wind. "It looks like it's going to start snowing again. We need to get out of here before we get caught up in a blizzard." I said to them.

Katherine nodded and helped Shadow stand. The hedgehog leaned on her and I helped her get his balance as he stood between both of us. We started walking towards the cave and Shadow gave me a look.

We moved along for what seemed like ever until I glanced at Katherine. "This is taking awhile. Maybe one of us should go back and get the others so this can go faster or you teleport all of us there."

Katherine shook her head. "It takes too much energy to teleport three people. I could go there if you want. I'll be back soon and you two, try not to kill each other while I'm gone."

I blinked, I had secretly hoped I could go so Shadow could quit glaring at me but it looked like Katherine jumped into the opportunity. She helped Shadow lean on me as she prepared herself to go. She waved goodbye and vanished in a flash of light.

I frowned and then noticed Shadow glaring at me again.

"What?" I asked.

"Don't touch my sister again. Ever."

"Okay, okay! Sheesh! I was just trying to make her feel better that you kind of died."

"Humph!"

**Uh-oh… looks like someone doesn't want someone to touch their sister. Anyways, hope you liked this chapter! See you when the next one comes around and special, **_**special**_** thanks go to the ones who reviewed. Don't forget to review on this one too and go vote on my poll!**

**Katherine "You know… with everything getting serious, why don't we start telling jokes?"**

**Windy *sighs* "You're impossible."**

**Xsus "Why did the Turkey cross the road?"**

**Katherine "I don't know, why?"**

**Xsus *big grin* "Because it was sick of being called a chicken!"**

**Windy *face palms***


	18. Hostile Takeover

**Hello my excited readers! Welcome to the next chapter of Day of the Dead! I plan on putting up another story soon (don't worry this one will still be updated every time someone reviews). Anyways, I'll let you people know when it comes out. Now, back to the rapidly getting serious story. This chapter was brought to you by: raeweis, Maraya Prower, ballandcup, and Guest. Also thanks goes to MobiusGirl (also thanks for favorting the story), ballandcup, Maraya Prower, Sgt. Creeper, and raeweis for following the story (thank you)!**

**Raeweis= ha! Managed to spell your penname without looking- and that's a good thing. And I laughed so hard after reading your jokes- Xsus laughed even harder and that lasted for a good hour. Yep, brotherly over protection. Always an interesting to read and laugh at. Anyways, thanks for the review and hope you like this chapter just as much as the last… what eighteen now (including prologue here)?**

**Maraya Prower= LOL yeah, right there with you. Don't find Sierra! And glad you liked the jokes. It was given by Xsus… obviously… who was happy to tell it. And yeah, hopefully Shadow calms down and what makes it funny is Katherine doesn't even know about it :D! Anyways, here's the next chapter hope it came sooooooooon enough :P.**

**Ballandcup= Thanks! I always liked Cosmo in the TV show… she was always a fun character to watch and she was very thoughtful about the things around her: making her perfect for the job in this story. Hope you continue enjoying the story!**

**Guest= Yeah. The list of "who's going to die" is actually very depressing to me. I didn't even like writing it because I enjoy writing the characters! And poor, poor Silver. I want to say things will get easier for him with Shadow but it won't- haha.  
Katherine "Gah! This is ridiculous! Now we're all tied."  
Xsus "Like a cute little bow?"  
Katherine *rolls eyes* "No, now you just made it weird, Xsus."  
Xerius **_**"That's Xsus for you."**_**  
Xsus "Thanks, Xerius!"  
Shadow, Katherine, and Xerius "…..."**

**Disclaimer of the Usualness: Don't own anything that belongs to SEGA. Just the Dimension Jumpers and the professors. Okay, now to the story!**

**Chapter Seventeen: Hostile Takeover**

"Seriously Shadow!" Amy scolded as the hedgehog wolfed down all the food in front of him. "You're going to eat everything out of this cave!"

Everyone laughed as the pink hedgehog waved her spatula at the ebony hedgehog.

It had been maybe three minutes that Shadow had gotten back and Amy offered on cooking some food for him, a choice she was obviously regretting now. Thanks to Katherine coming back with Zap, Windy, and Xerius they were able to help Shadow get back to the cave a lot faster than if Silver and Katherine would have.

"Here Amy, let me help you." Cosmo said as she walked into the kitchen and started helping her cook some food. Cream hopped in to help a moment later and Xsus, with a shrug, joined in.

Katherine sat down next to Shadow and folded her arms. She then glanced at him, coughing quietly to get his attention. "Shadow, what exactly happened to you while you were gone?"

The hedgehog froze and glanced over at her before chewing on the piece of steak he had in his mouth thoughtfully before explaining everything that happened to him. "I don't recall exactly what happened after Eggman through the smoke bomb, I remember being grabbed and everything going dark. When I woke up again, I was in a dark room and a figure in the shadows was talking to me in a black scythe."

Zap and Windy paled but Shadow didn't seem to notice as he accepted a waffle Xsus and Cream had made (ironically). He cut up the waffle and Katherine couldn't help but smile at how much better he looked then when Silver and herself first found him. She secretly thanked Ria and her healing abilities as Shadow swallowed a mouthful and spoke again.

"Mephiles was there too… but he wasn't himself. I think the figure in black was controlling him and his eyes have turned to a black and red color. The figure said that I would one day work for him and I managed to escape with a Chaos Emerald- at a cost of getting hurt. Afterwards, I found myself in an abandoned town and sent a telegram out to all of you…"

"Which we got," Silver said, waving the piece of paper at Shadow.

Shadow glared at him and took a drink of orange juice. He licked his lips and glanced at Amy as she turned around and opened her mouth to speak. "Medium Rare."

Amy nodded slowly, closed her mouth, and turned to the steak she was somehow managing to cook on the stove. He looked back at the others again and continued his tale. "After sending the telegram, I left and struggled to get to here but lack of food and water made me pass out on the side of the road… where Silver and Katherine found me." Shadow shot a death glare over at Silver again.

Silver glared back at Shadow while Sonic glanced between the two in confusion before sighing. "Well… that's quite an interesting story."

"It's him. That's Terrarock." Windy growled. "The scythe just happens to be one of his favored weapons."

"Which he uses to slice people's heads off." Zap added dryly. He shivered as if he suddenly remembered something _really_ bad and very disturbing.

Shadow frowned. "Terrarock… who's he?"

"He's someone from our dimension. He came back for the Day of the Dead… but he came back in this dimension. The madman is known for controlling people using dark magic and able to conjure up the magic of darkness itself." Katherine explained.

The entire room went silent until Shadow finished eating. He hopped off the stool and wiped his hands together before grabbing his gloves and slipping them back on. Xerius watched him with a frown and turned to the others. _"What do we do now?"_

"Now…?" Zap said slowly. "I… I don't know."

"Maybe you should face me then… Zap." A new voice echoed out behind them. Everyone spun around in shock to see a figure in black with a hood pulled low over their face. It held a scythe in one of its gloved hands tightly. It chuckled at the stunned look on everyone's faces. "Good to see you all again… and this must be Katherine. How _nice_ it is to finally meet you. It's a pity you weren't around during my reign. Where were you again? Oh that's right, running around in circles in this dimension from Commander Towers with your brother and Maria."

Katherine frowned. "How did you know…?"

"I know many, many things." The figure smirked.

"Terrarock." Zap growled. "Leave. NOW. We have no quarrel with you. The one who killed you is in our home dimension. Why aren't you there?"

The figure glanced over and shook its head. He reached up a gloved hand and pulled the hood of his cloak down, revealing its face. Everyone held their breath but was shocked, besides Windy and Zap, to see that the person behind the hood wasn't as terrifying as they thought. The one known as Terrarock happened to be a hedgehog. He had blood red colored fur and with yellow, zigzag shaped stripes running down the sides of his face. His green eyes glowed neon green and a smirk was clear on his face as he held the scythe tightly in his hands.

"A hedgehog?" Jason took a startled step back. "But how…?"

"The power of darkness did not transform me into a _cat_ like it does to most people." Terrarock sneered. "I was blessed with the power to turn into this form."

"Power of darkness… what is he talking about?" Knuckles demanded, turning back to the Dimension Jumpers.

Terrarock shook his head. "Knuckles, Knuckles, I'd shut up if I was you. Or else you'll end up the same way your parents did."

Knuckles paled.

Then, out of the shadows around Terrarock came forth all the other enemies they had known: Sierra, Towers, and the Meterex leaders… practically everyone they had fought except Mephiles, Metal Sonic, and Eggman.

"Care to join?" Terrarock asked the group, waving a hand back at the enemies behind him. "We can live in eternal darkness… even if you don't want to join all I need is the Chaos Emeralds then I will let you all live freely."

"Never!" Windy spat. "We'll die first before we'll let you take the emeralds freely!"

The others nodded in agreement.

Terrarock turned his green gaze on her and cocked his head sideways. "My, my, hasn't someone gotten more cocky then last time? Very well… prepare to meet the end of your free will, Windy."

He handed his scythe to Sierra, who took it after her eyes flashed red and black for a moment. Then, Terrarock lifted his hands into the air, glancing at Metal Sonic and Eggman. "And I'm taking back what rightfully belongs to me while I'm at it."

Terrarock closed his eyes and started chanting in an unknown language. As he chanted, a dark mass covered around the room and Knuckles dived for the Chaos Emeralds that sat on the kitchen counter before gathering all of them up. He backed up quickly to the others as they gathered a tight circle as the dark mass swirled even tighter around them.

"Don't let it touch you!" Zap warned. "You touch it, you're dead."

"Prepare to meet your fate!" Terrarock said. He pointed at Metal Sonic and Eggman and the two fell over like they had been shot.

Zap jumped in front of everyone angrily. "Not today!"

Xerius paled. _"Zap! Remember…!"_

Zap glanced back at Xerius and nodded sadly. "I know… but if it means the others live for a bit longer it's worth it."

"Zap…?" Windy asked.

"Bye Windy…" Zap smiled faintly. "Thanks for always being there for me."

Windy's eyes widened as Zap took a Chaos Emerald from Knuckles and tossed it to Sonic. "Get everyone out of here!" He growled then turned to Terrarock before drawing his sword from thin air. "You and me." He said coolly.

Terrarock pointed at Zap and the boy swung his sword, slicing at thin air before lunging at Terrarock, the two crashed into each other and rolled away as Metal Sonic stumbled to his feet, lifting his fists. His once red eyes had a black hue to it now.

"New mission." He stated. "Kill everyone and get the emeralds for Master Terrarock."

Sonic lifted the emerald Zap tossed him. "Chaos…!"

Silver and Shadow grabbed an emerald from Knuckles and lifted their own emeralds into the air. Windy glanced over at Zap. "Zap!"

"Get out of here…!" Zap growled as Terrarock struggled underneath him.

"You can't win!"

"I… I know." Zap looked away from Windy as Katherine grabbed her friends' hand.

"Come on!" Katherine said to her.

"CONTROL!" Shadow, Silver, and Sonic yelled at the same time. A bright light enveloped them and the entire group disappeared, minus Zap. The boy got tackled to the ground by Sierra and she held his arms down as Terrarock stood, growling angrily.

"You! You made me lose them!" He roared.

"A price worthwhile." Zap said seriously, even though his heart was pounding wildly. He closed his eyes and remembered the conversation he had with Xerius awhile back. It flashed through his mind quickly.

_"Alright," _Zap had said, turning to Xerius. _"Who is the third person who's going to survive?"_

Xerius had looked guilty. _"You… but not you."_

Zap had frowned. _"How does that work?"_

_"Terrarock got control of you… I don't know how but you were under his control. You were the third person to survive and you hunted down Windy before killing her off, leaving Sonic the only one of us left."_ Xerius had said seriously.

Zap opened his eyes back to the present with Terrarock glaring down at him. So, this was it. This was how Terrarock was going to get control of him. The man glared at him furiously, his green eyes glowing. "Prepare to meet you doom, Zap!"

"So be it." Zap smirked. Terrarock pointed at him and all went black for Zap. All he could feel was cold, cold darkness.

**Katherine "Oh… my… gosh…"**

**Xsus "I got another joke! I got another joke!"**

**Katherine "Um… Windy, Xsus, Shadow, Jason, you tell the jokes while I sit over here and try to comprehend what just happened to Zap." *walks away***

**Windy *smirks* "Want to hear an Anti-Joke or a funny joke?"**

**Xsus "An Anti-Joke? What are those?"**

**Jason "Oh, Windy! No! These are terrible jokes that you shouldn't be telling! They're not even funny! That's why they're called Anti-Jokes!"**

**Shadow "Do tell."**

**Windy "What was in the sad, little boy's apple?"**

**Jason "Here it comes…"**

**Xsus "What?"**

**Windy "A worm."**

**Xsus *blinks* "What? That's horrible! That's not even funny! No one wants a worm in their apple, ever!"**

**Shadow "Why am I finding this entertaining?"**

**Jason "Told you. Anyways, review, answer to the poll, all that other good stuff. See you when the next chapter comes around- if you review!"**


	19. In Hiding

**Info chapter ahead! Also the new story I mentioned in the last chapter should come out today (or tomorrow, depends on my mood :P) so if you can go over and check that one out let me know and all that other good stuff. Now back to this story. Zap has been taken by the evil, red hedgehog Terrarock and could be gone forever... special thanks to: raeweis and Guest for reviewing so this chapter could come out for you!**

**Raeweis= I'm sure that if Zap ever gets back he'll enjoy that apple :P and the swing joke? No that sounds horrible though- but do tell. I don't know why but those jokes make me laugh… which is just wrong and horrible I suppose.**

**Guest= Haha! That jokes reminds me of a bad blond joke I kept telling when I went to Girls' Camp: "Two blonds walk into a bar and the third ducks". Terrarock is quite an evil person, and very scary might I add, and you have a point, everyone does somehow manage to pull off sneaking into Shadow's cave. And no! Don't go into depression! And good thing you didn't go into the asylum. I wouldn't know what to do…  
Katherine "Tied again? No!"  
Shadow "If we're lucky it won't stay that way for this chapter because I'll win for this round."  
Katherine "Whatever!"  
Xsus "Waffle anyone?"  
Katherine, Shadow, and Xerius "…..."**

**DISCLAIMER= I don't own anything that belongs to the SEGA team. I only own the Dimension Jumpers and the three professors. If I owned SEGA then this would be a game by now that everyone would enjoy playing to kick Sierra in the face!**

**Chapter Eighteen: In Hiding**

"That idiot!" Windy growled as she slammed a fist into a tree. The tree trembled under her force, threatening to fall over. She glared up at the blue sky high above them. "He knew all along… and didn't tell me… and now he's gone! GONE!"

Katherine sighed. "Windy…"

"Not now, Katherine!"

Katherine nodded and looked back. She glanced at Windy as the girl sat down in the field of green grass and flowers angrily with the wind starting to kick up, thanks to her rage.

Katherine crossed her arms with a frown. Ever since Silver, Shadow, and Sonic had teleported them here, on the opposite end of the world where it was summer instead of winter, Windy had been furiously walking around in circles, not wanting to talk to anyone.

Maria Robotnik suddenly walked up behind her. "Maybe you should leave Windy alone for awhile…"

Katherine sighed in defeat. "Alright." She allowed herself to get pulled away by Maria and over to Shadow, who was lying on his back and staring at the clouds above them. Maria got down next to Shadow and Katherine got down on Shadow's other side. All three of them stared up at the stationary clouds- thanks to time being stopped.

"It'd be nice if the clouds were _moving_." Katherine said dryly.

Maria giggled. "Having some clouds is better than none, Katherine."

The trio became silent and stared up at the clouds for a long moment until Shadow finally spoke up. "It would be nice if there were more moments like this in life."

The others nodded and Katherine closed her eyes, inhaling the fresh, forest air. "It would make my life a lot easier…"

Shadow glanced backwards. "It would be nice if Faker would sit down and enjoy it too."

Both girls glanced backwards and laughed as they saw Sonic running around in circles around the clearing, kicking up the wind. Tails, Cosmo, Amy, Tikal, Shade and Knuckles were yelling at him to slow down but the blue hedgehog didn't even seem to mind them.

Windy was now sitting in a tree with her legs dangling and her back against a tree. Her eyes stared up at the motionless clouds high above her and she frowned, her eyes narrowing. "Zap… the reason why you did that was to keep the rest of us safe. But you _promised_ you wouldn't go back… and it looks like I'll have to tell the others your story without you." She glanced back at the others and shook her head sadly.

Xerius was lying against a tree trunk on the other side of the clearing with his eyes closed and his arms folded until he heard a rustle in the leaves above him. He glanced upwards and sighed as Rouge hung upside down. Rouge smirked at him. "What's the matter, Xie? Aren't you glad to see me?" She dropped down in front of him and put a hand on her hip.

Xerius gave her an amused look, raising his eyebrows in the process.

"What do you think happened to Zap?"

_"Under the control of Terrarock."_ Xerius said seriously, the amused look vanish to be replaced by a glare.

"Wait, under the control of Terrarock? Why would Zap save us for something as terrible as that?" Rouge asked.

_"Beats me, Zap has never exactly been an open person."_

"Neither are you."

Xerius said nothing. His eyes scaled over to Cream and Xsus who were sitting in the field of flowers, picking some and laughing at each other. Rouge followed his gaze then smiled when she saw the two. "They are quite a cute couple, you know."

Xerius nodded. _"It's good to see Xsus finally growing up."_

"What?"

_"Nothing."_

Rouge gave Xerius a playful look before both turned their attention onto Xsus and Cream again. As they watched, Cheese floated over with a yellow flower in his small hands and dropped it in Xsus' palm. Xsus grinned. "Thanks, Cheese! This will be perfect!"

"So where did you learn to make flower crowns, Xsus?" Cream asked as she braided the flowers together, slowly forming a flower crown.

Xsus' eyes suddenly grew dark. "Um… my… my… mother showed me once."

"Your mother? Is she nice?"

Xsus' eyes became even darker. "Used to."

"Used to?" Cream frowned and looked up from her flower crown and noticed the sad look on Xsus' face. "Oh! I'm sorry Xsus, if you don't want to talk about it then you don't have to."

"Thanks," Xsus forced a smile and continued braiding flowers together with Cream. He glanced over at Cream as they worked. "Where did you learn how to make them?"

"My mother taught me too!" Cream smiled at him as Cheese handed her a purple flower. "Thank you, Cheese."

"Chao Chao!" Cheese chimed then flew off.

They became silent until Xsus coughed and drew Cream's attention onto him. "You know, I'm glad everyone here has made a mark in my life." He said as he lifted the flower crown into the light for him to see it better.

"A mark?" Cream frowned.

"You know, like when people do something good or bad… haven't we had this conversation before?"

"Yeah, with Cosmo. You told her they were like footsteps and how the snow would cover the bad things that people did." Cream nodded.

Xsus snapped his fingers and his golden ears perked up. "That's right! Anyways, there are some good marks too that the snow can never cover." Xsus bent down and plucked a yellow flower and held it up for Cream to see. He smiled at her and then looked at the flower. "Just like flowers make marks on the ground, you made a mark in my life. A good one, like ice cream when your sad, or hot coco on a cold day, but you get my point. Thank you Cream."

Cream didn't know what to say but she finally smiled at Xsus. "You're welcome, Xsus!"

Xsus smiled back at her as he braided the yellow flower into the front of the crown before placing it on his head. He grabbed a nearby stick and wielded it in the air like a sword. "I am King Xsus, mighty ruler of the flowers! No one can dare to defy me!"

Cream giggled as she placed her crown on her head.

-XXXXXXXXX-

"Found them!" Tails said as he fiddled with his wrist communicator.

"Good job, Tails, where are they?" Sonic asked.

"By the looks of this… Angel Island." Tails said with a frown then looked up at the others around him. It had been a couple of hours for this to be going on. They were searching for where Terrarock and his army was so they could attack him easier. Now that they found him though, this meant that things were going to be a lot easier.

"What are they doing on my island?" Knuckles growled.

"Like it matters, but there's something all of you should know." Windy said behind them. Everyone turned to glance back at them as she crossed her arms. "Zap isn't on our team anymore."

"What?" Ria said nervously. "What's that supposed to mean? Zap's a good guy like the rest of us!"

Windy shook her head. "No… not anymore… Terrarock got him."

There was a long moment of silence until Windy looked up. "Since he's not here it looks like I will have to explain his situation to you. When Terrarock first came to power, Zap and myself stepped up to the challenge. Katherine would've been there too but she was stuck here in this dimension. However, when we first attacked, Terrarock spun a surprise attack on the two of us and… got control of Zap."

Windy looked crestfallen at the memory. "When Terrarock finally was killed and Zap came back to the Light Givers, he swore never to follow the path of darkness again. However… just now… back at the cave… Zap sacrificed himself to keep the rest of us safe for giving up to darkness again. Why I'm telling you this is because the third person in Xerius' vision that survived _was_ Zap… but not Zap. It was the evil, controlled, Zap that survived."

Everyone looked at each other nervously. Windy on the other hand lifted a fist. "When we attack Terrarock on Angel Island, don't fall to the power of darkness. Don't go easy on Zap because he will _not_ go easy on you."

"Can't we just avoid a fight with all of them?" Xsus asked cautiously the flower crown he made was still on his head. "Terrarock actually… scares me."

Windy actually looked sad. "No. He has control of time, keep that in mind. He has Mephiles therefore he's controlling time so we can't just wait for it to end."

"But when we fought Terrarock for the first time Mephiles wasn't with him, is it possible that he is dead?" Cosmo wondered.

Windy shook her head slowly. "Yes… that's quite possible. But keep in mind that once Terrarock kills someone he absorbs their power. So even if Mephiles is dead, Terrarock can still control time and with the Master Emerald it would be easier to do so. We have to fight him if we want time restored again and the Day of the Dead to end."

"Worst Day of the Dead _ever_." Xsus muttered to Cream.

Windy stood up straighter. "I figured all of you should know that about Zap and Terrarock. Now… anymore pointless questions?"

Knuckles lifted a gloved hand. "I got one. When Terrarock revealed he was a hedgehog, everyone seemed so shocked to see him like that, why? Are hedgehogs rare in your world or something?"

Windy glanced at Jason and motioned him forward. Jason stepped up and coughed to get everyone's attention on him. "Alright, keep this in mind when I explain this. Everyone in our dimension was born a human."

The entire room went deathly silent and everyone glanced at the Dimension Jumpers in surprise, shock, and wonderment. "How come you're all catlike now though?" Tails asked, turning to Jason.

Jason frowned. "When someone in our dimension decides to follow the path of light or darkness, their bodies absorbs too much light or dark energy and that transforms them into the shape they look now. Light or darkness energy has different effects on each person, therefore none of us look the exact same but all of us do have catlike features. There are a few, and when I mean a few I mean like one in a trillion, that gain features that aren't even catlike, and hedgehogs are even rarer in those numbers. Terrarock must be one of the lucky ones."

"So all of you were once human?" Knuckles asked nervously.

Collective nods went up from the Dimension Jumpers.

Windy smirked. "You should've seen Katherine. All blond and big blue eyed…"

Katherine rolled her eyes. "Thank you Windy on my history lesson. Does anyone else have any questions?"

"I got one," Amy put a hand on her hip. "Once you turn into your animal form, you can't go back to your human form ever again, can you?"

Katherine shook her head slowly. "Zap managed to do it… once… but it ended in disaster, the zigzag scar is proof of how badly it went. And none of us really want to go back. Being in this form proves that you have a purpose in your life in our dimension. It proves your fighting for what you believe in, whether you're on the side of the light or darkness."

"How long has that been going on? I mean the transformations." Silver asked.

Katherine glanced at Windy, who shrugged. "As long as I can remember. I don't ever recall a time when everyone didn't infuse light or dark magic into their system." Windy said seriously.

"Any other questions?" Jason called out.

"I have got to visit your dimension someday." Knuckles muttered.

"Alright then, tomorrow we head out for Angel Island… if everyone can handle that." Katherine glanced over at the professors, who nodded their heads.

"We can leave tomorrow. However, we'll have to Chaos Control there though since we are on the other end of the world." Scarecrow said seriously.

Sonic grinned. "We can handle that."

"So tomorrow it is." Katherine grinned.

Suddenly, Xsus sneezed, causing the flower crown to fall off his head, and when everyone looked at him, he rubbed his nose. "Sorry…" He said sheepishly.

**Windy "Hey look… a history book… Zap must've accidently left it here…"**

**Xsus *picks it up and opens it* "Oh look! It has something written in the corner here. It's a joke: 'a man walks into the bar and says 'ow''."**

***moment of silence***

**Windy "Hey… didn't the reviewer Guest give us that joke?"**

**Xsus *giggles* "Yeah… guess it did go down in the history books- literally!"**

**Sierra *walks in* "Hello inferior people. Out of the way. I think it's my turn to take over the computer."**

**Katherine "Not on my watch!" *tackles Sierra and the two start rolling around on the ground, throwing punches***

***Everyone else gathers around and starts chanting* "Fight, fight, fight, fight!"**

**Me *face palms* "Anyways, I'll make this quick before they burn the house down. Review so next chapter can come out, vote on my poll on my profile (top of the page), and I'll see you when the next chapter comes out. Okay, you two enough fighting you're going to break something…!"**


	20. To Battle

**Welcome to the next chapter and thanks to Maraya Prower, Guest, raeweis, and ballandcup for reviewing so this chapter came out a bit earlier. Would any of you believe me when I say that there are about… six chapters left? **_**Anyways**_**, to the story.**

**Guest= Yeah, I thought it would be the coolest thing to go from human to cat- really cool. And yeah, I agree with that, poor Windy. That was a cute Xsus and Cream moment, and yes! Your joke made it into the history book- literally :D!  
Xerius **_**"Told you."**_**  
Katherine "Hold on, cat boy, there's six chapters left for me to beat you!"  
Shadow "Or me."  
Xsus "I made some cookies!"  
Xerius, Katherine, and Shadow. "…..."  
Katherine "Is it just me, or does he shut us up every time?"**

**Maraya Prower= It is now today! Fight, fight, fight, fight! And we all hope that's the case for Zap… if it makes you feel somewhat better he is… *sees Xerius glaring* uh… never mind. You'll find out at the end of the chapter…**

**Ballandcup= I wish it was close to the end, but here we are at Chapter Nineteen six chapters away from the end LOL. And glad you liked the fortune cookies- they are a nice touch.**

**Raeweis= Oh my gosh! That was by far the saddest yet funniest joke I've heard in a long time! I feel so guilty laughing though… ah oh well… I guess that explains why Sierra's a good bad guy.**

**DISCLAIMER= I don't own anything that belongs to SEGA. All that I own would be the Dimension Jumpers and the professors. Okay now to the story!**

**Chapter Nineteen: To Battle**

"Okay, you guys ready to go?" Sonic asked, looking at his friends nervously and then back at Shadow and Silver behind them.

The three of them held a Chaos Emerald and the three hedgehogs turned to the group known as the Distraction Team. The team was known to keep Terrarock's focus away from the Main Force group, who would sneak in and do a killing blow, taking out Terrarock and therefore stopping the enemy dead in their tracks.

"Ready." Shade said seriously.

"Be careful." Katherine said quietly to all of them.

Shade glanced back at her team, containing many great fighters and looked at Katherine. "I think we'll be fine."

Katherine's eyes scaled the group, E-123 Omega, Cream and Cheese, Xsus, Amy, Chase, Ria, Jason, Rouge, and Xerius. She frowned and nodded slowly. "Alright… if you say so. But all of you better come back!"

"We will!" Xsus promised cheerfully.

"Chaos Control!" Sonic, Shadow, and Silver called at the same time. In a flash of light, the team disappeared and Shadow glanced back at the others.

"They're gone." He said to them seriously. "The Main Force should get ready to go now."

The Main Force group gathered together, revealing it to be Sonic, Shadow, Silver, Katherine, Windy, Blaze, and Knuckles. The small group received wrist communicators from Tails, who promised to lead them every step of the way with the other people from the Brains Team.

As Tails put the communicators on the others, Maria walked up and bent down to Shadow and Katherine's height. Crimson and sky blue eyes turned over to Maria in surprise as she smiled at them sadly. "You two keep an eye out for each other, you hear me?"

Both sibling looks at each other and then at Maria. "Of course," Shadow scoffed. "Like I would let this one run around like a madwoman."

"I do not do that." Katherine grumbled as she tightened the communicator around her wrist.

"And no fighting each other either." Maria added.

Both siblings looked at each other again before nodding at Maria.

"You promise me?"

"Promise," Katherine and Shadow said seriously. Then a painfully image was brought back of the last time they were alive and on the ARK to all three of them with Katherine handing Maria her soul emerald and Shadow standing by, promising to keep an eye on Maria.

"Don't let Towers get you two again." Maria said with a smile.

Katherine forced a smile. "Not in a million years."

There was a moment of silence until Maria wrapped both of them in a hug. Shadow and Katherine glanced at each other before returning the hug. Shadow and Katherine buried their faces into Maria's hair and dress, staying quiet and enjoying the last moments of safety they had. All of them remained that way for a long while until Sonic informed that it was time to go.

"Stay safe…" Maria whispered as they let go.

"We will…" Katherine said quietly.

"Come on, Katherine." Shadow said gruffly. He looked at Maria. "We'll be back."

The group gathered in a line as Silver, Shadow, and Sonic lifted their Chaos Emeralds again. "Chaos Control!" They called and they vanished in a bright light.

Tears dripped down Maria's face as soon as they were gone and she sat on the grass silently. Tikal the Echidna walked up next to her along with Cosmo while the professors of the Brain Team got to work communicating with the others.

"It will be okay." Cosmo promised.

Maria said nothing as Tikal put a comforting hand on their shoulder.

-XXXXXXXX-

_"Okay Sonic! Move out! The Distraction Team is already attacking the front part of the island and things are going as planned." _Tails' voice echoed in from the communicator.

Sonic perked up as the rest of his team had been hiding in the bushes for over ten minutes, waiting for this signal.

Angel Island had, thankfully, been floating near the canyon so it made it easier for everyone to get to, not having to rely on the Dimension Jumpers that could fly to fly them up to the island. He peaked to the front part of the island where he saw a bright beam of energy shoot down from the sky.

"Okay Tails, thanks! We're moving out!" The blue hedgehog turned to the others. "You heard the man… er… boy… fox… anyways, you heard him! Let's go and try to keep up."

The others nodded as Sonic sped across the landscape in a blue blur, stopping before a large rock that hid him from the island. He looked back at the bushes the others were in and motioned them to follow him.

"Easy enough," Shadow grumbled. He sped after him, using his rocket shoes to help him until he slid to a stop next to Sonic.

Blaze crouched down and used some of her fire ability to help launch herself across the plain. She slid to a stop next to Sonic and smoothed the folds in her strange dress. The trio glanced back, knowing the others were not as fast as they were, meaning this the difficult part.

Suddenly, a flash of light appeared behind them and both glanced back to see Katherine and Windy teleport behind them. Windy had a tight grip on Knuckles' wrist and Katherine was holding onto Silver's arm.

"I could've flown, you know." Silver said to Katherine.

Katherine cracked a smile. "And with that glowing green light of yours you would've set off every scanner known on Angel Island."

"She has a point." Sonic said to him.

Silver sighed. "I guess you're right." He froze when he noticed Shadow glaring at him as Sonic sped off to the next stop off spot, closer to the island. Blaze shot after him and Windy and Knuckles teleported next.

"Okay, what are you two arguing about?" Katherine grumbled.

Shadow glared at Silver and said nothing.

"She grabbed onto _me_." Silver said angrily.

"That doesn't change a thing." Shadow said angrily.

Katherine looked confused but grabbed Silver's arm again. She glanced back at Shadow with a frown. "You'll have to tell me later." She teleported away, taking Silver with her as Shadow sped off to the next spot.

"Slow poke," Sonic teased when Shadow caught up.

Shadow glared at him and Sonic decided to shut up.

-XXXXXXXX-

"Twenty-nine!" Xsus cried as he sliced through one of his enemies with a blade of water, knocking the tiger to the ground.

"THIRTY! I'm beating you, Xsus!" Chase called. He dropped down as a controlled mouse tried to smack him in the face. He growled threatening at the mouse and flashed a grin. "Ready to play cat and mouse?"

The mouse's eyes glowed red and black as Chase jumped up at impossible speeds and kicked the mouse in the stomach like one would do to a kickball and watched as the mouse fly into the air. He turned to Xsus. "Thirty-one!"

"I don't see _how_ you two can make a game out of this." Rouge huffed as she used her famous Tornado Kick on an enemy dog. She punched it a few more times until it fell to the ground. She sighed and turned to the two boys. "Don't you two have better things to do?"

Xsus and Chase glanced at each other then looked at Rouge. "Um… no, not really." Chase admitted.

"Xsus!" Cream's voice called from behind. Xsus' eyes widened and he turned, running towards the last place he saw Cream. He brought up a wave of water and smashed it into the enemies that got in his way. As he ran he glanced to his left he thought about Tails, who had shown him pictures of Angel Island but he never knew that it was logically possible for Terrarock to build a large castle around the sanctuary of the Master Emerald and on the island in a matter of hours.

A giant, gray colored brick wall stood before them and a large moat in their way, the drawbridge nowhere to be found. Xsus could count three gray, pointy towers towering above the brick wall. The sky was black and it looked like it wanted to rain on them. It looked just like Xerius had explained in his vision.

Xsus smashed through the enemy and slid to a stop when he found Cream and Cheese holding their own against Chaos. "CREAM!" Xsus screamed. He launched a wave of water and knocked Chaos head over heels towards the edge of Angel Island. Xsus and Chaos tackled each other and rolled around on the ground while Cream's eyes widened.

Behind her, the battle raged on Ria shocked enemies, Jason used his fire abilities to burn his way through the enemy, Shade used her martial arts skill in her battle suit and managed to keep everyone off of her. Amy and Omega worked together knocking down or blasting their enemies.

Cream looked back at them desperately but knew none of them could help. She turned towards Xsus. "Xsus!"

The two rolled closer to the edge, Xsus was growling angrily and Chaos' eyes were turning from green to a red and black color. Suddenly, the ground gave up underneath them and Xsus looked back at Cream… then they fell.

"Xsus!" Cream wailed. She raced forward and peered over the edge of the cliff. When she saw nothing, her eyes watered up with tears and Cheese floated down next to her.

"Chao chao!" Cheese yelled down.

Suddenly, there was a large explosion of dust and light as something hit the ground hard. Cream and Cheese both went silent as it dawned on them that either Xsus or Chaos, or both, just hit the ground head on.

Cream fell to her knees. Tears streamed down her face and she didn't bother wiping them away. "No… why did it have to be you, Xsus?"

"Cream!" A voice cried out behind. Cream glanced back and saw Amy charging her way through the enemy. When she caught up, she panted and looked angry. "What are you doing here?"

"Xsus fell!"

"He… he what?"

"Xsus fell!" Cream wailed, more tears streaming down her face.

Suddenly, Xerius was there, seeming to appear out of nowhere. He leaned over the edge, his brown eyes flashing with worry, and then jumped over the edge. "Xierus!" Amy cried, lifting up a hand as he used his energy to fly towards the ground.

Rouge ran up, panting. "What happened? Xerius suddenly gasped while we were fighting and now I see him jumping off of cliffs!"

"Xsus fell off!" Amy said, turning to Rouge in shock.

"And Xsus didn't just fly back up?" Rouge frowned.

"No!" Cream wailed, Cheese fell into her arms and started crying too.

Rouge turned to Amy. "Xerius will get Xsus. _We_ need to hold up our line of distraction. The others won't do well if we sit around here and worry about Xsus."

Amy frowned. "Fine! Come on, Rouge!"

The two girls charged back into battle, leaving Cream and Cheese behind with their eyes wet and hearts broken.

-XXXXXXXX-

"My lord, we have some uninvited guests coming our way." Sierra said as she bowed before the throne. She kept one hand close to her chest and spread the other hand far and dramatically. Her ice blue eyes flashed red and black as she stood up and continued. "What is your will?"

From the darkness, a pair of glowing green eyes appeared and the voice of Terrarock was heard. "Hmm… uninvited guests you say? Is it that meddling blue hedgehog again?"

"Yes, my lord. They came through the back wall of the castle."

"And how do things go at the front lines?"

"Well my lord, we have them occupied with our forces."

"Good… very good… let them in and I will let our newest member deal with them personally." Terrarock's eyes flashed even brighter for a moment.

Sierra looked stunned. "My… my lord?"

"You heard me. I'm sure he will do fine. Send him on his way to meet them will you, my dear?"

Sierra began to bow again but froze, her eyes stopped flashing red and black for a moment and her icy eyes narrowed. A growl escaped her lips and she lifted her eyes up to Terrarock. "Very well… my lord."

Terrarock closed his eyes as Sierra turned and marched out the door as soon as the door was closed behind her, Sierra smirked. "Finally," She said quietly to herself with the smirk on her face. "Back in control of my own body. Now to take out Katherine…"

-XXXXXXXX-

"Come on, this way!" Shadow said quietly as he glanced down at his teammates from atop one of the castle rooftops. Silver used his telekinesis to lift himself upwards while Sonic shot up the side of the castle stopping next to Sonic. As soon as the three hedgehogs were up, they looked down at the others with a frown.

Knuckles grinned as he marched up to the side of the tower. "This should be a piece of cake." He mused and dug his gloves into the side of the tower before climbing up it. Blaze rolled her eyes and used her fire ability to launch herself up next to the three hedgehogs.

"Get up here!" Silver called down to Katherine and Windy.

Windy sighed. "Love to, but can't."

"You… can't?" Blaze raised an eyebrow.

Katherine turned to Windy. "We haven't tried any wind magic… I doubt Terrarock's black magic can keep us from doing that."

Windy smirked. "And _that_ is why you are with me for this mission." She concentrated and used a blast of wind to help herself shoot up fifty feet and landed silently next to her stunned companions. She wiped invisible dust off of her hands and glanced down. "Come on, Katherine."

Katherine hopped up and silently landed next to Windy.

"Why didn't you just teleport?" Knuckles asked as he climbed over the railing to reach them. Sonic jumped forward and helped him climb the rest of the way over.

"Black magic," Windy said with distaste. "There _was_ a reason on why I didn't just teleport all of us to Terrarock you know."

"Oh," Silver snapped his fingers. "So Terrarock's darkness energy is keeping you from using light energy and since teleporting is a light energy you can't do it anymore until you leave this castle."

Windy nodded while the others looked confused but shook it off.

They continued hopping over the rooftops, until they ran into a tall tower that seemed to stretch into the sky itself. Sonic squinted and still couldn't see the top. "You know, after all these years fighting Eggman, I bet you his hideout is up there. Most bad guys put their evil lairs up at the top floor."

"Too bad you'll never reach it anytime soon." A familiar voice said behind them.

Windy and Katherine tensed up while the others glanced behind them in surprise and shock. In the shadows, a figure stood with their arms crossed but after walking into the light, everyone took a nervous step back.

It was a boy, with dark colored yellow fur and dark blue eyes that flashed red and black for a moment. He held a white sword in his hands that glowed with black energy and shot off bolts of electricity. A zigzag scar ran down the side of his face and his once white clothes were now entirely black as the sky above them. He held a dark smirk on his face and his head was cocked sideways, as if he wasn't sure what to make of the group before him yet.

Windy felt her heart stop beating. "Z-Zap?"

**I got nothing. Not even any jokes. That ending shocked all of us. Review please and answer my poll! Also, don't forget to read and review on the other story.**


	21. A Fight for All

**Hello my excited readers! Welcome to Chapter Twenty of Day of the Dead and thank you for making it to this chapter! So, only five chapters left! Who will win? Good? Evil? Nobody? Are they going to call it a draw? (Ha, that makes me imagine Shadow shaking hands with someone- like that'll ever happen). Special thanks to Maraya Prower, raeweis, and Guest for reviewing so this chapter could come for your enjoyment!**

**Maraya Prower= A spoon…? That's it! Windy! Go get the spoons!  
Windy "How many?"  
Me *frowns* "How many do you think we'll need to trigger Zap's good guy memory back?"  
Windy "I'll go buy us some more spoons…" *leaves room*  
Me "Well, as Windy goes off to buy more spoons, I will reassure you that if anyone dies, they won't be brought back Chaos Emerald style… when that happened in '06 I must admit that was a little… creepy. Agreed! Everyone needs a punching bag around now! Hmm… Sierra not being in control of her body huh? Interesting idea… very interesting…"**

**Raeweis= Sierra "That is the best joke ever."  
Shadow "Why did I enjoy that joke?"  
Me "Oh my gosh, that was by far the worst joke ever, I feel guilty, once again, for laughing at it. Anyways, thanks for reviewing on both the last chapter and on Shadow's Gathering! I hope you're liking both of them!"**

**Guest= Xerius **_**"Win, first place."**_**  
Xsus "Yay! Second place!"  
Katherine *turns to Shadow* "How is it that we're getting our butts kicked by Xsus?"  
Shadow *shrugs* "Looks like that's about to change though…"  
Me *sighs* "ANYWAYS, glad you're liking the Silver vs Shadow thing, I admit it, it's making me laugh a lot too and Katherine still doesn't know a thing about it! Also, thanks for reviewing on Shadow's Gathering, I hope you're liking that story so far!"**

**Chapter Twenty (Haha! Can you believe it? TWENTY chapters, NEW RECORD!)= A Fight for All**

Xerius landed on the ground without much of a sound. No dust even moved beneath him as he glanced around, looking for some forms of life in this canyon. All he could see from here was rocks, and small waterfalls that fell from them. Xerius' eyes narrowed as he started walking through the canyon.

_"Xsus?"_ He finally called. When no one answered he coughed and lifted his hands to him mouth. "Xsus!"

Still, no one answered.

Xerius frowned and continued looking through the canyon. He heard shouts coming up from high above him but didn't bother to glance up. As he looked around, a sudden flash of light flashed through his eyes.

The light formed a vision of a broken Xsus lying on rocks next to a large waterfall where water was slowly covering him. When the vision disappeared, Xerius glanced far ahead where he saw a large waterfall. Without even pausing to admire the water falling from the sky, he jumped forward and flew off towards the waterfall.

When he reached it, a stunning sight was found before him. He landed on the ground and ran up to a motionless Xsus. Water lapped over him like it did in the vision but what the vision didn't show then that it showed now was blood being taken from Xsus' cuts on his body and being pulled downstream to the next part of the waterfall, creating a small, red river.

Xerius put an ear on Xsus' chest and when he heard a heartbeat he pulled Xsus out of the water and glanced around for Chaos. Where did that one go? He had to be around here somewhere… but the question was: where?

"Xsus," Xerius said seriously. "Come on, wake up."

He pressed down lightly on Xsus' small chest and after a few times, Xsus' eyes opened wide and he rolled over and coughed up water. He laid there for a moment until his blue eyes slowly went upwards towards Xerius. "Xerius…?" He asked weakly.

"Don't move." Xerius said seriously.

"Haha, this must be a dream or something. Your mouth just moved." Xsus giggled, his voice sounding like a frog. He turned over onto his back and looked up at Angel Island. "I hope Cream's okay."

"She's fine. Now get up. They need our help."

Xsus glanced at Xerius. "But… this is a dream, right?"

"Wrong. Now get up Xsus…" Xerius froze and showed a sly grin. "Before I send the monkeys after you."

Xsus' eyes widened and he jumped to his feet then started to look around, horrified. "I thought you promised we would _never_ bring up that incident again!" He wrapped his arms around himself and shuddered. "And they took my ice cream…"

Xerius cracked a smile and nudged Xsus gently. "Come on, we have to get back up to the top."

"Aye, aye, Mr. Talkative, sir!" Xsus saluted Xerius and Xerius rolled his eyes.

"Very funny," Xerius used his energy to help himself float off the ground and Xsus followed his example.

Xsus put a hand on his stomach. "Xerius? I fell a little sick."

"Don't push yourself…" Xerius said softly. "Take it easy."

"Okay… I will." Xsus promised.

Then the two shot up into the air towards the front part of Angel Island to help out the others in the Distraction Team.

-XXXXXXXX-

"Go away!" Windy yelled as the evil Zap took a step forward.

Zap cocked his head to the other side, his smirk growing. "What? Are you scared of me Windy? I always knew you were a chicken…"

"She is _not_ a chicken!" Katherine hopped forward, lifting a fist.

"Katherine!" Silver the hedgehog grabbed Katherine's arm and pulled her back, resulting another dark glare from Shadow the hedgehog.

"Let me go!" Katherine grumbled as Windy took a step forward.

"I promised that if this happened to you again I'd have to kill you." Windy said slowly. She lifted up her sword with a strange kind of fire in her eyes. "And I take my promises very, very seriously."

Zap smirked. "Try your best, girl."

The two jumped at each other and swung their swords. Lightning flashed down from the sky and knocked Windy back, where she fell off the roof and Zap hopped down after her.

"Windy!" Katherine cried and Shadow grabbed onto her other arm. She glanced back at her brother as he shook his head no.

"Windy can handle herself, we need to get Terrarock." Shadow said seriously.

"Fine…" Katherine turned around and sighed angrily.

Sonic showed her a grin. "I bet she can handle herself just fine."

Shadow lifted his Chaos Emerald. "Let's Chaos Control our way to the top of the tower, it will save more time and effort."

"Why haven't we thought of just going in like this to begin with?" Knuckles wondered.

"If we did it, it would've set off the radar that we're here to Terrarock, but since Zap's here, he probably knows we're here so might as well take the risk." Sonic explained. "Alright, is everyone ready?"

The others nodded as Shadow lifted the emerald into the air. "Chaos…"

"Watch out!" Katherine yelped and tackled her brother to the ground as a bolt of dark energy shot right where Shadow's head used to be. Everyone glanced over and saw an irritated, evil Zap floating in the air.

He sighed angrily. "No respect. What part of: 'too bad you'll never reach it anytime soon' are you _not_ getting?"

Katherine cracked a grin. "You might be evil now, Zappy, but you still got that personality of yours darkness can _never_ get rid of."

"My name is not Zappy!"

"Hey Zigzag!" Another voice called out. Everyone glanced over and saw Windy waving her sword at Zap on top of a nearby tower Sonic and the others were at less than five minutes ago. "Bet you can't catch me!"

Zap sighed. "And _why_ would I want to do that?"

"Because the wind is so much faster than lightning, buzz head."

"Buzz head?" Zap growled. "And no it's not! Light is the fastest thing known in the universe!"

"Pssh! Whatever!" Windy smirked, crossing her arms. Windy glanced over at Katherine and cracked a smile. "This is great!" She called to her. "I get to argue with him and never get in trouble!"

Katherine laughed and Sonic hopped forward. "Hey Zips!"

"Not you too!" Zap growled, turning to the blue hedgehog.

"I bet that _I'm_ faster than both of you!"

"Whatever!" Windy and Zap yelled at the same time.

Shadow crossed his arms and a smirk was clear on his face. "Faker might be right about that but we all know he's not as fast as I am."

"Whatever!" Sonic, Windy, and Zap yelled at him.

"Jinx!" Katherine laughed. "All three of you owed me a soda." Silver started laughing while everyone else gave her a look. "Sorry," Katherine snickered. "Couldn't help it."

"Whatever…" Zap growled. "It's time I killed you all!"

"Catch me if you can!" Sonic grinned he then shot off down the side of the tower towards him while Shadow dropped down after him. Windy used her wind magic to launch herself into the air and Zap jumped off the rooftop, charging at Sonic.

As that went on, Blaze, Silver, Knuckles, and Katherine stayed where they were, Blaze looked at the others then her gaze drifted up to the top of the tower. "Shall we continue upwards?"

"Don't see why not." Katherine shrugged.

"I'll help with that." Silver said. He lifted his hands and concentrated then the four of them started floating upwards in the air.

Knuckles crossed his arms. "Why didn't we think about doing this sooner?"

The other three shrugged and Silver lifted them up into the air.

-XXXXXXXX-

"My lord?" Sierra questioned as she knocked on the door and walked into the room. She bowed towards the darkness before her. "I have done as you asked."

"Good… good…" Terrarock's green eyes reappeared.

"Zap is holding off our enemies for now and our surprise attack will be launched on our enemies in the front of the castle." Sierra explained.

"Very good…" Terrarock stood and walked out into the open, revealing his red fur and black cloak. He looked out the window as lightning flashed from the sky, lighting up Sierra and Terrarock's faces for a moment.

There was a long moment of silence until Sierra smirked and pulled out her sword. "However, Terrarock, this ends now."

Terrarock turned his green eyes over to Sierra and sneered. "Your masters taught you well, Sierra. I'm impressed you managed to escape my control so easily."

"Omear and FD were great teachers." Sierra said she twirled the black sword in her hands. "But I'm making something clear. Katherine is _my_ kill. Everyone else you can kill but you thought you can just get away with killing her too? Think not."

"Katherine's your kill?" Terrarock mused and then he started laughing. It was a dark laugh that made the clouds swirl even darker and echo around the castle grounds below. "All because of a bitter rivalry years ago you wish to kill her like you did to so many others?"

Sierra flinched. "How…?"

"The dead do not hold any secrets, even if they're in other dimensions." Terrarock mused. He froze and then walked away from the window, back towards the darkness he came out of. "I can't believe you haven't told anyone your true story yet, Sierra!"

Sierra twirled her sword. "It looks like I'll have to kill you to keep that secret hidden."

"Try your best!" Terrarock flicked his hand and the scythe reappeared in his hands. The two stared down at each other then Sierra lunged towards Terrarock, sword raised.

Sparks flashed as Terrarock sliced upwards with his scythe and knocked Sierra's blade from her hands. Sierra watched the sword fly out the window and she ducked as Terrarock jabbed forward with his scythe, a move that was meant to decapitate its enemy.

Sierra rolled out of the way as Terrarock flung the scythe downward on her. The scythe lodged itself into the ground and Sierra glanced back as she got up, smirked, and jumped onto the windowsill. "I am Sierra! A Follower of Darkness and the greatest assassin known in _all_ dimensions! I cannot be stopped that easily, Terrarock!"

With that she closed her eyes, spread out her arms, and fell backwards.

Terrarock jumped forward and barely missed Sierra as she fell towards the ground far below. The hedgehog sneered and pulled the hood of his cloak over his head before jumping onto the windowsill. "I will get my revenge, Sierra!" He roared down after the falling girl.

-XXXXXXXX-

Amy Rose lifted her hammer high and brought it down with all her might onto the head of a Meterex minion, its eyes were glowing red and black, indicating it was under the control of Terrarock. The Meterex minion let out a cry as it was impaled into the ground thanks to the force of Amy's hammer.

"Take that! Humph!" Amy said, throwing her hammer over her shoulder with a smug grin.

"Amy!" A voice cried behind her.

Amy turned around and saw Rouge the bat and E-123 Omega running and flying towards her. As soon as they reached her, Rouge landed on the ground, panting from flying so fast. "The enemy is retreating…" She managed to say. "Don't know why though…"

Omega made a whirling sound. "IT SEEMS THAT THEY ARE AFRAID OF SOMETHING MORE THEN US."

"How can that be?" Amy wondered. "What could possibly scare them more than us?"

Jason dropped down from the sky and lifted a flaming fist and punched another controlled Meterex in the face. He glanced at the others and grinned sheepishly. "Sorry… did I miss something?"

"The enemy is retreating, and nice flame moves." Amy said.

Jason rubbed the back of his head. "Thanks, but why would they do that? And not only that, but where's Xerius and Xsus? I haven't seen them in forever!"

A blast of wind made them all cover their faces to stop the flying dust debris from getting into their eyes as Chase slid to a stop before them. "Yeah you better run!" He called after the forces as they started running away. The only ones that seemed to be staying were the Meterex minions. Chase did a fast uppercut to a nearby Meterex and turned to Jason. "I saw Cream back there, according to her Xsus fell off Angel Island and Xerius went after him."

"Of course," Jason sighed. "Alright, we can't worry about them right now. We have to know why these people are running."

Tails' voice suddenly came in on Rouge's communicator. _"Rouge! There's a huge energy signature heading your guys' way!"_

Rouge frowned as Amy peaked over Amy's shoulder to see the worried fox on the screen of the communicator. "What is it, Tails?" She asked.

"I don't know! But whatever it is its bad news!" Tails said.

Suddenly, from the sky above, Xerius and Xsus dropped down. Xsus was carrying a sobbing Cream and Ria dropped down next to them. Ria lifted her hands with a frown as all of them noticed there were no controlled Mobians left, only Meterex minions that kept their distance. "What happened to everyone?" She asked nervously.

"I think they were worried about… that!" Xsus yelped, pointing into the distance.

Everyone glanced over and let out their own surprised cries as they saw a misshapen animal moving slowly towards them. It looked like a black panther but its left hand was entirely robotic with giant claws like Metal Sonic's. It had a long tail like those of the Dimension Jumpers' and its violet eyes glowed in the darkness for a moment before flashing red and black. It leaned on its right leg and dragged its left leg uselessly behind it.

"Oh my gosh… what is that thing?" Ria yelped.

Chase jumped in front of her. "I'll keep you safe!"

Xerius growled angrily and lifted a hand out in front of Rouge.

"It looks like something from a horror movie!" Xsus cried as Cream covered her eyes with a yelp.

_"I know what that is!" _Maria Robotnik's voice suddenly called out. Everyone looked at Rouge's communicator to see she had leaned into the screen with Tails. Her eyes were wide with worry and the look on her face told them to run for their dear lives.

"What is it?" Jason demanded to her.

_"It's an abandoned experiment from the ARK: Project Night!"_

**Dun, dun, dun!**

**Katherine "Project Night?"**

**Me "Yeah, perfect bad guy… anyways, hey, where's Windy?"**

**Katherine "She left to go get Zap some spoons, remember?"**

**Me "Oh yeah… anyways review so the next chapter can come out and please check out my other story and review on that one too! Light be with you and I'll see you all when someone reviews again!"**


	22. Stories of the Past

**Windy "So, then the boy pulled out his gun and…"**

**Xsus "Nooooo! HE couldn't shoot him! He's his brother! They're both innocent people!"**

**Me "Quiet you guys! I'm trying to post the next chapter!"**

**Windy "What? I was at at a good part!"**

**Me *rolls eyes* "Anyways, hi people! Welcome to the next chapter of Day of the Dead! This chapter was brought to you by: raeweis, UnknownFollower, and Guest!"**

**Raeweis= Oh my gosh! That's horrible (the bus one)! The stick one made me snicker but the bus one (I felt guilty for laughing once again…) was terrible! Gah! That was… wow! Horribly funny! I don't even know why I'm laughing! And now… I'm rambling on… okay anyways back on topic: thanks for reviewing and glad you liked that part (I did too) Sierra's secret will be revealed in this chapter :D  
**

**UnknownFollower= Thanks, I've been writing stories for years and I figured it was time to come and show it to the world, always glad to make another reviewer thrilled to read! Xsus "I get a bear hug? Yay!" *hugs back***

**Guest= Haha… skype… brings back memories. Glad I made you laugh, it's my goal to make someone laugh everyday! Hope you enjoy this chapter just as much as the last one.  
Katherine "Gah same as last go!"  
Xerius **_**"I'm winning…"**_**  
Katherine *glares at Xerius***

**Disclaimer= I don't own anything that belongs to SEGA. Just the Dimension Jumpers and the three professors in a few chapters back belong to me.**

**Chapter Twenty-one= Stories of the Past**

As the four floated upwards, Katherine glanced up at the top of the tower which they noticed a minute or two ago. The closer they got to it though, the farther up it seemed to travel, no matter how fast Silver carried them upwards.

"This is taking forever." Knuckles crossed his arms. "Who knows what could be happening to the others while we're sitting here floating?"

"Silver is trying his best, Knuckles." Blaze said seriously.

Katherine said nothing and glanced over at Silver, whose full concentration was on the top of the tower.

Suddenly, something fell past them and all of them looked down and saw a sword spiraling down into the darkness below.

"What the…?" Knuckles said but before he could swear, Katherine slapped a hand over his mouth angrily, watching the sword flip out of sight then looking up at the top of the tower again.

"I think… Sierra?" She said quietly.

Then, someone fell out of the tower and spun down past them, after the sword. All four of them looked down in surprise and Silver stopped carrying them upwards. Above them, they heard an enraged voice call down: "I will get my revenge, Sierra!"

"Terrarock." Everyone said in distaste.

Katherine glanced down at Sierra as she disappeared from sight and looked at Silver. "Drop me."

"What? Are you crazy? You'll get killed!"

"No I won't! Now drop me."

"No! I won't do it, I can't."

"Why not?"

Silver said nothing and they heard thunder rumble above them, causing the four to look up. They saw Terrarock hop out of his castle, red spines seeming to glow as he landed on glowing black energy that seemed to lift him in the air, stopping him from falling as he started running on thin air, black energy appearing wherever he took a step to stop him from falling.

"We have to go after Terrarock!" Silver said to Katherine.

"I have to go get Sierra!"

"Let her go," Blaze said to Silver and Silver shook his head angrily.

"I won't."

Katherine crossed her arms and glared at him angrily.

"I still won't, even with that glare."

"_Versalas_!" Katherine yelled in an unknown language. She pushed out, towards Silver and a blast of wind hit him in the face, blowing back his quills. Silver blinked in surprise as Katherine stopped glowing green and then fell to the ground.

Silver watched her fall and looked at Blaze. "What just happened?"

"She used wind magic to make you let go."

"What? That is so not fair! Come on! We have to go save her before she turns into a pancake on the ground!"

"Oh no you don't." Blaze grabbed his wrist before he could do anything. "We have to go after Terrarock, remember?"

"But…!"

"Katherine can handle herself, don't forget she did come from another dimension." Blaze said.

Knuckles blinked, obviously feeling like he didn't belong in this conversation.

"But…" Silver tried one more time and a glare from Blaze's eyes made it final. "Alright… let's go after Terrarock."

The three of them then shot after Terrarock.

-XXXXXXXX-

The wind pushed her long ears almost flat against her head and her heart was pounding in her throat as Katherine fell, face first into the ground far below her. She could see Sierra far below her, grabbing her sword.

"Got it!" Sierra yelled gleefully to no one and then transformer before Katherine's very eyes into a dark creature similar to a pterodactyl, only as black as midnight. The creature shot away, after the far away form of Terrarock as he ran on the air.

Katherine let out a yelp as she saw the ground become closer than ever. She closed her eyes and concentrated, ignoring the little voice of Silver in her head saying: _"I told you so!"_ After a burst of energy she felt the wind slowly push up against her, slowing her fall then pushing her in an angle until she hit the rooftop, rolled a couple hundred times across it, then jumped back to her feet, fists raised.

"I'm alive!" Katherine called to no one, and then felt like Sierra. She scowled and became thankful no one heard her say that and then started running across the rooftop after the black pterodactyl. She used Windy's wind magic to help herself run faster then she normally did as she ran over the rooftops.

As she ran, she glanced over and noticed lightning flashing on rooftops not too far away and thunder roaring every other second. She wondered what that could be about but before she could wonder she heard someone call up to her.

"And just where do you think _you're_ going?"

Katherine glanced over at the rooftop on the other side of the lightning show and saw Sonic the hedgehog. "Sonic!" Katherine grinned.

"Hey, Katherine, saw you run by and had to catch up. What happened while Shadow, Windy, and I went after evil Zap?"

"Nothing much, Silver carried the four of us up to the top of the tower and then we saw Sierra fall, I went after her, and Terrarock is running on air. And that's pretty much where we're at now." Katherine laughed at the look on the hedgehog's face when she finished.

Sonic shook the confused look away. "Alright, I'll help you take out Sierra then."

"I think she's going after Terrarock."

"Why would she do that? I thought she was working for him!"

"I don't know, I think she might've made it out of Terrarock's control somehow."

Sonic frowned then his eyes widened at something behind her. "Watch out!"

Katherine looked over and ducked as a bolt of lightning shot over her head. Sonic ran twice as fast to avoid it and left Katherine behind with an evil Zap.

"You can't get away from me!" Zap growled at her.

Katherine sighed. "Oh for the love of, where's Windy, Zap?"

"Dead."

"Okay, okay, sure. Whatever. Where is she?"

Zap said nothing and glared at her while Katherine glared back. He lifted his hands to shoot another bolt of electricity when someone suddenly flew by, picked up Katherine wedding style, and shot off, landing on the ground, stopping for only a moment, then shooting off again.

Katherine glared at her savior. "And where have _you_ been, little brother?"

Shadow the hedgehog rolled his eyes. "Where's my thanks?"

"Thank you. Now where have you been?"

"Fighting with Zap, Sonic told me that you were in need of a little assistance." Shadow said as he took a sharp left and lightning broke the cobblestones they would be at if they continued running straight.

"Yeah, I guess I do." Katherine said slowly. She glanced at her brother as they flew down through the city. "But it took you long enough!"

Shadow rolled his eyes as they ran along and turned a sharp corner again. Sierra was straight ahead of them and Terrarock could be seen running on air, leaving the grounds of the castle. Katherine pulled upwards by her waist and her sword appeared in her hands.

"Nice! I got my light magic back." She grinned at Shadow.

"Good, now get us through the wall."

"What wall… oh." Katherine glanced ahead and she could see a large brick wall standing before them and the outside world of Angel Island. Katherine lifted a hand and was about to shoot a bolt of bright energy at the wall when Shadow skidded to a stop as Zap suddenly dropped down before them.

"You won't get away!" Zap growled.

"Go away, Zips." Katherine grumbled, lowering her hand.

Zap lifted a hand in their direction. "Not today."

"Need a lift?" A new voice asked. Katherine suddenly felt Shadow float off the ground and into the air next to Silver, Blaze, Knuckles, Windy, and Sonic.

Katherine grinned. "Thanks, Silver!"

Shadow let go of Katherine as she was able to float on her own thanks to the help of Silver. The white hedgehog then willed them over the wall as Zap shot lightning up at them, and missed. As soon as they were on the other side, Katherine's let out a yelp at the sight they saw.

Xerius was going head on with a misshapen black panther. Rouge was dive bombing every now and again and Omega launched multiple weapons at it. Xsus laid on the ground, not moving with Amy, Shade, and Cream surrounding him nervously.

Silver landed the group on the ground next to Xsus and the small group around him.

"Onward, Project Night! Destory them all!" Terrarock's voice came from above. Everyone glanced up and saw him with his arms crossed, green eyes glowing gleefully.

Sierra landed in her pterodactyl form on the brick wall and in a small, black explosion transformed back into her original form with sword in hand. She glared down at Project Night then turned her attention back up to Terrarock.

"Terrarock!"

"Ah Sierra! Good to see you again! I was hoping you died from your fall out the window."

"Project Night!" Katherine growled, turning towards the black panther with anger flashing in her eyes.

"Wait, you know that thing?" Windy asked.

"Know it? I fought it once."

Shadow frowned. "Project Night… where have I heard that name before…?"

"Project Night was an abandoned experiment on the ARK that was there _long_ before I came." Katherine explained. "Except, the project went haywire and killed almost everyone on the ARK when they tried to stop it. However, no one knows what happened to it after it went haywire. I had to fight it once before because it was still alive and I guess the Day of the Dead brought it back too."

Shadow frowned. "Apparently so…"

"Hey Night!" Katherine yelled.

Windy grabbed Katherine's arms as Project Night's violet eyes turned slowly in their direction, away from Xerius, who it knocked to the ground. "What are you doing?" She hissed. "Do you want that thing to come over here and kill us?"

"I fought it once, I can do it again." Katherine reassured her.

Lightning flashed from the sky above again and then rain fell as Katherine marched up towards Project Night. Windy watched her go with a nervous look on her face while Shadow crossed his arms next to her.

"You and me, again!" Katherine called out to Project Night.

Sierra, on top of the wall, growled and turned to Terrarock. "Call off the monster! I call taking out Katherine!"

Terrarock sneered at her, saying nothing.

Project Night lunged at Katherine as she pulled out her sword and the two sliced at each other and started running around, slicing at each other with claws and sword. Shadow jumped forward and started helping his sister, throwing Chaos Spear after Chaos Spear at it.

Suddenly, Terrarock lifted a hand and Project Night froze. Katherine jumped backwards and Shadow slid to a stop next to her. Everyone glanced up at the red hedgehog as he slowly floated down from the sky and landed on the ground.

A flash of lightning appeared and Zap landed silently next to Terrarock, his eyes flashing red and black for a moment while Sierra hopped down from the wall. The others slowly gathered around Xsus and glanced at Terrarock while Project Night limped over to Terrarock.

"Is he okay?" Cream asked nervously as Shade bent down next to Xsus.

Shade shook her head. "No… his heart beat is slowing down…"

Xerius growled and looked at Terrarock in anger.

"No, Xie, I don't think Terrarock was the cause of this. I think Chaos was if you want my opinion." Rouge said. "Don't forget the two _did_ fall off the island."

_"But he was just fine when I found him!"_ Xerius growled.

"They fell off the island?" Knuckles yelped. "You know how hard it is to survive after a fall like that?"

Ria bent down next to Xsus and concentrated, her hands glowing for a moment. Everyone remained silent while Katherine glanced over at Terrarock, Zap, and Project Night. All three of them had amused looks on their faces. She growled angrily and looked back at Xsus. "Come on Xsus!" She said quietly. "How did this happen?" She asked.

Cream sniffed. "We were fighting and Xsus suddenly collapsed, he wasn't hit or anything! He had just recently flown up with Xerius too… will he be okay?"

Ria frowned. "There's… there's something stopping me… from healing him."

"What?" Xerius yelled, startling everyone.

Ria flattened her dog ears. "I'm serious! Something is stopping me from healing him, I don't know what it is though!"

"Maybe he lost his will to live…" A voice called out behind them. Everyone glanced back in surprise to see Terrarock smirking. "Like he did so long ago."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Jason growled, lifting a fist.

"The same reason why you and your sister were disclaimed from the only family you had: your father…" Terrarock's green eyes flashed with amusement as Jackson took a stunned step back and Ria's eyes widened.

Chase took a step forward. "Like that's supposed to mean anything!"

"Oh what? Should I bring back your story too, Chase? You were raised in a military family in our home dimension, when your father found out what you were you were disgraced and chased down by your own family with hunting guns." Terrarock mused.

The entire group went silent with shock.

Chase took a step back. "Who… who told you that?"

"The dead never keep secrets," Terrarock wagged a finger at Chase. "Who else should I talk about? How about you, Xerius?"

Xerius took a step back eyes flashing with worry.

"You were the oldest in a family, with only a little sister that you cared about. Your parents never cared if you were dead or alive and same went for your sister so you cared for her like she was your own. However, when it became known that you had a way with the light, your sister called you a monster and disgraced you from the family. Ever since that day you've sworn yourself to silence, never speaking, never talking, and never trying to have feelings for another person again." Terrarock laughed at the scared look on Xerius' face.

Sierra growled as she marched forward. "Enough games, Terrarock. Back down now."

Terrarock glanced back at her and chuckled. He flicked a wrist and Katherine let out a yelp as she felt herself get dragged forward. She landed in Terrarock's hands and he grabbed her by the neck, making Sierra freeze.

"Like I care." Sierra sneered. "Do it."

"Oh… do you?" He turned Katherine's neck slightly in a painful angle and Katherine let out a cry.

"Katherine!" Shadow jumped forward, he lifted a fist. "Put her down!"

Sierra growled. "I told you she's mine to kill."

Terrarock grinned. "What about… I kill her after I tell them your entire story since you apparently don't care?"

"Don't you _dare_!" Sierra hissed.

Terrarock flung Katherine on the ground, where she laid there, not moving. Shadow took a step forward but was stopped by Rouge. "Stop, Shadow! You could be killed!"

"That's my sister!" Shadow growled turning to look at her, his crimson eyes glowing with rage.

"So… the tale of Katherine and Sierra?" Terrarock sneered as he bent down next to Katherine. He lifted her head so that they shared eye contact for a moment. His green eyes glowed and Katherine's eyes widened with shock as she could see the others fall down to the ground around her without even being hit. Terrarock continued, smirking ever so slightly. "Such a sad story… but I will tell! For I do _love_ sad endings!"

And all was black.

**Windy "So then, when all hope seemed lost… Mephiles dropped down from the sky and made it even more hopeless!"**

**Xsus "No! Not Mephiles! Anything but… oh wait… he's a good guy though right?"**

***Everyone looks at him***

**Me "Anyways! Hope you liked the chapter, Windy's obviously seen the movie "**_**Rango"**_** recently (which I don't own). Don't forget to review and check out my other story! Light be with you all and I'll see you when the next chapter flies by- which will happen when someone reviews (aka you)!"**


	23. Ideas

**Shadow "Got any Kings?"**

**Katherine "Nope, go fish."**

***Shadow pulls out an ace from the pile***

**Katherine "You got any Queens?"**

**Shadow "Nope, go fish."**

**Me "Okay, **_**obviously**_** things have been getting a little slow around here. That's what I get though for taking awhile to post the next chapter- which is much more exciting than Shadow and Katherine playing Go Fish with face cards."**

**Shadow and Katherine "Hey!"**

**Me "Back on topic, today's chapter was brought to you by: raeweis, Maraya Prower, Swiftshade123, Guest, and Unknown Follower. Also sorry on the delayed update, yesterday was quite an exciting day and I never got the chance to update this chapter."**

**Raeweis= Alright raeweis, here's the next chapter for you and glad you liked it so much. Sierra and Katherine's story (in a weird way) will be told so let me know if you like it or not! Thanks for reviewing! Xsus gives you a cookie for doing so! :D *Xsus hands over a cookie***

**Maraya= I want to tell you if this is a good or a sad ending! GAH! But I can't it'll ruin the story! But I will tell you Terrarock goes home, metaphorically speaking that is. Now here's the next chapter hope you like it! (sorry if it sounded rush, I'm only supposed to be on for five minutes and I'm really pushing this by thanking everyone lol!)**

**Swiftshade123= *winks* love to tell you my friend but can't sadly! You'll find out soon enough and you'll be very thrilled at the answer to that question… wait… did I just kind of give it away? Oh well, enjoy the story!**

**Guest= Katherine "No! Last place!"  
Shadow "Don't worry, sister, you'll stay there for awhile."  
Katherine *glares at Shadow*  
I don't know what your idea is guest but for your sake I hope it's right although even if it's wrong you're going to be **_**quite**_** surprised!**

**UnknownFollower= Haha, okay Project Night was just like Shadow the hedgehog- made from scratch. And yes. Sierra and Katherine's past is going to be very, very interesting. Thanks for the review!**

**(sorry if my "thank you for reviewing"s sounded rushed, I'm on a tight scedule with a small window of time letting me update!)**

**Disclaimer= I don't own anything that belongs to SEGA. You guys know what belongs to me. Now to the story!**

**Chapter Twenty-Two= Ideas**

Light suddenly appeared and Katherine could see she was in a hospital room. She looked around frantically but didn't see Terrarock anywhere, or anybody else. She looked around with a frown at the sight before her.

There were at least twenty babies in the room all of them wrapped up tightly in warm blankets and making their own noises excitedly. Katherine glanced over and noticed two human girls, twins, looking exactly alike. Both had thin blond hair and big, sky blue eyes. Katherine smiled to herself, they looked cute, innocent, free, and happy. Suddenly, Terrarock's voice appeared and Katherine looked around wildly, trying to locate the voice but it sounded like Xerius' when he spoke. It was telepathically though, coming from nowhere but everywhere.

"_Two twin girls were born… both thought they had bright futures with a loving family, adventures to no end to have together, and each other too. But… things couldn't have been more wrong."_

As soon as he finished speaking, the image of the hospital room faded to black and Katherine looked around nervously, feeling lightweight and useless until light shined down on her once more from an afternoon sun and she landed on a large rock lightly.

She glanced back and saw a large, green, grassy hill before her. Running down the hill were two girls, no more than ages three or four. They looked identical, light blond hair, and glowing blue eyes. The grass flowed softly in the wind, making it look like water.

"Come on, Sierra!" One of the girls cried, wielding a stick that she imagined to be a sword in her hands. "The evil Follower of Darkness is getting away!"

The other girl, named Sierra, frowned. "But… Katherine! It's dangerous out here with snakes and spiders…" Sierra stopped and shuddered and with a shock, Katherine realized that those two girls were Sierra and… herself?

Suddenly, the sky grew dark all around them and the wind picked up. Both girls froze at the bottom of the hill and looked up at the sky with big eyes. From the clouds, two figures dropped down before them and the one named Katherine took a startled step back.

One figure wore glowing white armor. A triangle shaped helmet was on its head and it held a glowing white sword in the other hand. The armor seemed to be literally glowing white in the darkness of the storm. It wore a white cape on its shoulders that floated in the wind.

The other figure wore the opposite colored armor, glowing black. It was the color of darkness with a black cape and a square shaped helmet. This one held a midnight black sword in its hand and pointed it to the enemy. The two lunged at each other and started slicing.

As they fought the wind picked up and both girls started screaming in fear. In the distance behind them, Katherine could see the tips of a town that had caught fire and was starting to burn to the ground.

As the girls screamed, both warriors stopped fighting and seemed to notice the girls. They glanced at each other then jumped forward. The white warrior picked up Katherine while the black knight picked up Sierra.

"SIERRA!" The younger Katherine screamed as the white warrior ran away from the two. She outstretched a hand as if desperately trying to reach for the other girl.

"Katherine!" Sierra wailed, reaching her hand out as the black warrior turned and fled with Sierra hanging on its shoulder.

The image faded again and Terrarock's voice was heard again. However, Katherine didn't look around to find the voice, she knew this was just a vision of another past now and he wouldn't try hurting her in the real world while showing her this... for reasons unknown. What kind of messed up world was the one she was in? Why she and Sierra together and looked like twins? So many questions spun in Katherine's mind as she felt lightweight once again.

"_Many long years passed since that fateful day. Sierra grew up to the mastery of darkness by her teacher: Omear and Katherine learned the ways of the light by Windy. It was many, many year 'till the two met again- for the last time."_

A new image suddenly appeared and Katherine landed silently on top of a cliff. In this image, two armies stood facing each other. One glowed white and the other glowed black and in the front of the line stood two familiar people. Katherine, as the way she was now with long ears, a tail, and sky blue eyes. Sierra stood across from her with black fur, ice blue eyes, and a smirk on her face until she realized who the long eared person was, her long lost twin.

"Sierra," This strange world's Katherine said slowly. She lifted out a hand to Sierra. "Come on, let's go back home and live the way we were supposed to, under the way of the light."

Sierra shook her head. "We both know I can't do that. But, you can come over here! The darkness isn't as terrifying as it was told in children's tales. It's more welcoming and treats people the way they are supposed to be treated."

Katherine lowered her eyes. "I can't do that… I was raised under the way of the light and I'm staying that way. You… you've changed for the worse, Sierra."

Sierra lifted a fist angrily. "No I haven't! I've changed for the better! I'm stronger now than I was long ago. Can't you see? I'm better then I was then! What, are you _jealous_ now that I'm stronger, maybe even stronger then you?"

Katherine growled. "Whatever! We both know I'm the stronger one. I always was and I always will be."

Sierra lifted up her black sword. "Want to run that by me again?"

"Gladly," Katherine hissed, pulling out her white sword. With a pain, both girls realized that these swords were the same ones that their masters used when they fought each other so long ago when they first got separated, but both of them pushed the thought away.

They flew at each other as the army around them charged at each other too. The girls fought like mad, slicing, hacking, dodging, fighting each other. Tears formed in both girls' eyes as they realized the other was nothing like they were before.

"I have to stop you…!" Katherine yelled. "You'll kill everyone if I don't!"

Sierra ignored the comment and punched Katherine in the face. Her sister fell down and looked up in shock as Sierra pointed her sword at Katherine with anger and hurt flaring in her ice blue eyes. Tears streamed down from them as she glared at her sister through the tears. "You… you're nothing like I knew you long ago, Katherine! You're… you're a monster now! A creature of the light!"

"And you're a monster of darkness…" Katherine said slowly and sadly. "You're nothing like Sierra long ago."

"Shut up!" Sierra lifted her sword and brought it down, closing her eyes and not looking as she brought the tip of the blade right through Katherine's body. Katherine let out a gasp and fell backwards then silently died before her.

Sierra glared down at Katherine's body before removing her sword from it. She glared at her enemy as she lied there, dead. The only thing she had left as a family had tried to kill her, refused to join her, left her to die. Her blue eyes looked up at the dark clouds high above her and Sierra lifted a fist angrily as she looked at the clouds. "I'll kill them all! Every last one of them. So another Sierra will never have to suffer like I did again!"

The image faded away and the real Katherine gasped as light flooded into her eyes. This time, it was the real thing. She was back in her time own time, lying on the ground once again. The others were getting up around her and looked just as startled. Katherine wondered if they saw what she saw just now.

Katherine glanced over at Sierra, who was glaring at Terrarock with a look of hatred. "I hate you too now." She growled.

"Isn't it cute?" Terrarock mused as he stood up tall and outstretched his hands. "In another dimension Katherine and Sierra were twins!"

The realization smacked Katherine in the face as she stared at Sierra, who crossed her arms and scowled. Katherine glanced at Terrarock as the monster started laughing hysterically. Sisters… in another… dimension. Sierra's last words echoed in her mind: _"I'll kill them all! Every last one of them. So another Sierra will never have to suffer like I did again!"_

That was why Sierra always went after Katherine and tried to kill her. That was why she was in her dimension and when she first appeared Zap had no records of her ever being born. Everything was slowly piecing itself together and making sense.

"Oh… my… gosh…" Katherine whispered to the grass. She glanced over as Terrarock moved away from Katherine and Sierra lifted a fist across from her. "Enough games! We settle this _now_ Terrarock!"

Terrarock sneered at her. "Oh really?"

"Really, now prepare for your doom!" Sierra lifted her sword and lunged at Terrarock, her blue eyes blazing with fury. The two started slashing at sword and scythe at each other, furiously engaged in their battle and nothing else.

Katherine tried to push herself to her knees, and cried out when she felt pain shoot through her neck, forcing her to lie down again. A flash of darkness, then Shadow the hedgehog was by her side looking at her worriedly. Katherine's eyes glanced over at him. "Shadow?"

"Don't worry, I'll get you out of here."

"No, I'm going to fight."

"I can't let you do that."

"Shadow!" A new voice said.

Shadow glanced back as Silver bent down and picked up Katherine like she was as light as a puppy. Katherine scowled at Silver as Shadow glared at him. "What do you plan on doing?"

"I'll keep her safe." Silver promised. "It's the least I can do. You're a better fighter then I am so you fight them."

"I thought I told you to keep your hands off of my sister."

"Can't do that anymore."

"You… what?" Shadow stood up.

Silver's face turned red as if he realized what he said. He turned his back onto Shadow and glanced back at him. "I'll keep an eye on her and Xsus."

Silver walked away and Katherine looked back at Shadow, seeing him over Silver's shoulder. The hedgehog's crimson eyes were wide with shock, worry, confusion, disbelief, and so many other emotions. When he noticed Katherine looking he managed to put on a brave face… that Katherine could see right through.

"I promised to keep her safe…" Shadow whispered to the wind.

"_Shadow!" _Maria's voice came in through the communicator and Shadow lifted it up, surprised to hear her voice.

"Maria!"

"_Shadow, don't worry about Katherine. She'll be fine. What you need to do is to stop Terrarock! Stop him and time will start and this nightmare can end!"_

"You know you'll disappear too, right?"

Maria smiled and waved a hand. _"We'll worry about that later, okay Shadow?"_ Maria's image faded away, indicating the conversation was over for now.

Shadow frowned as he looked up and watched Silver gently place Katherine down next to the unconscious Xsus. He glanced over at him, yellow eyes flashing for a moment in a flash of lightning while Sonic ran up to him. "We have to stop Terrarock."

Shadow sighed and turned to him while the others ran up around them. "How?"

"_Terrarock's has black magic that's almost unstoppable." _Xerius added. _"How are we going to stand up to a power that strong? Not only that but he also has Project Night and Zap on his side too. Also, Sierra will _not_ be thrilled by us stopping her from annihilating Terrarock."_

"We split up forces." Sonic explained he glanced at Sierra and Terrarock, who were still fighting. "Shadow, Knuckles, Blaze, and I will head for Terrarock. Xerius, Windy, every Dimension Jumper take on Zap, do any means on bringing him back."

Windy nodded. "We'll do our best."

"Everyone else, go after Project Night."

The entire group nodded their heads and Sonic lifted a fist into the air. "Now let's go get the darkness!"

Everyone cheered while Shadow rolled his eyes before shooting off in their own directions. Blaze turned to Sonic questionably. "Why do you want me helping out with you and not with the ones against Project Night?"

Sonic showed her a grin. "We're going to need all the help we can get and you just seemed perfect for the job. I'd ask Silver for help too but he seems quite intent on… um… guarding."

Blaze smiled while Shadow turned to Terrarock angrily. "Terrarock!" He roared up at them. Sonic, Knuckles, and Blaze jumped forward beside him. Terrarock smacked Sierra in the face and Sierra spun down, crashing in an explosion of mud, thanks to the rain that still fell from the sky. The monster then turned to the four of them with a sneer on his face.

"What do you want?"

"To end this!" Shadow yelled back up.

"Very well…" The red hedgehog floated down onto the muddy ground with a smirk on his face as lightning flashed, lighting up his neon green eyes. "Let the fight begin!"

Sierra suddenly appeared next to Shadow and everyone looked over at her in surprise. She glared at them angrily before turning her attention onto Terrarock. "I'll help you with this fight… but as soon as it's done I'm killing all of you."

Sonic grinned. "Glad you can help!"

Sierra just glared.

Terrarock spun his scythe then charged and Sonic, Shadow, Blaze, Knuckles, and Sierra lifted their preferred weapons (mostly their fists) and charged forward.

-XXXXXXXXX-

Amy bashed Project Night in the face with her hammer and watched the thing flip head over heels before crashing with a muddy splash. She laughed darkly. "Take that!"

As Project Night struggled out of the ground, E-123 Omega opened fire, forcing it to lie back down in the muddy water as everyone jumped forward to help. Rouge nodded. "Looks like that did the trick."

"Don't think so," Shade said darkly. "Look!"

Project Night forced itself out from the muddy waters and a new figure dropped down next to it: Metal Sonic. Everyone lifted their fists defensively and glared as the duo looked at their new enemies, eyes flashing red and black for a moment.

Metal Sonic made a screeching sound of laughter. "It seems that someone wants to die."

Omega stepped forward. "NEGATIVE. YOU ARE UNDER CONTROL, METAL SONIC. YOU MUST SNAP OUT OF IT."

"Negative. I am under no one's control. I am under my own. I serve Terrarock." Metal Sonic replied as Project Night stumbled forward, looking more like an undead zombie then a project made on the ARK.

"THEREFORE YOU ARE UNDER CONTROL. METAL SONIC SERVES NO ONE." Omega argued.

Metal Sonic didn't move for a moment, trying to think of what Omega was trying to mean while Project Night lunged forward at impossible speeds. Amy got in its way and smacked it in the face again with her hammer, only to be pulled back by a fast moving Shade as Metal Sonic sliced at where her head used to be.

"It tried to kill me!" Amy gasped in disbelief.

"Welcome to the real world, kid." Rouge said as she kicked Metal Sonic. The robot flipped backwards and crashed into Project Night.

Amy's eyes widened with shock but she shook it off, standing bold and lifting her hammer angrily. "Whatever! I'll still knock those two over no matter how many times they get back up!"

Shade smiled. "You can do it, Amy."

Amy charged forward with the others right behind her.

-XXXXXXXX-

"Ria!" Jason cried as he saw his sister fall over, smoke slowly rising from her body from trying to block Zap's blow. Chase- of course- beat him to her and was already inspecting her for cuts and bruises, leaving Windy and Xerius to fend themselves against Zap.

"Alright, Xerius, we'll do this the same way we took down that giant hawk three years back, remember?" Windy said.

Xerius nodded slowly, his eyes flickering towards the sky for a moment where he could see Shadow bombing Terrarock with a bunch of Chaos Spears. He turned his attention back downwards onto Zap as he crossed his arms smugly.

"Alright, ready? Go!"

The two jumped forward and Zap readied himself for a fight by lifting up his sparking fists. Xerius seemed to suddenly vanish then reappeared above Zap, kicking him in the back of the head and sending Zap sprawling towards Windy.

Windy lifted her sword high but froze when Zap stopped before her. She gritted her teeth and tried to lower the sword but she couldn't. She sighed in frustration and tossed the sword to the ground as Zap slowly pushed himself to his feet.

He sneered at Windy. "You can't kill me."

"I can," Windy's green eyes flashed. "I just choose not to."

Xerius suddenly appeared and kicked Zap away again. As he landed, he gave Windy a look and she crossed her arms stubbornly. "I know I made a promise to kill him… but I… I can't! There. I said it: I can't. There _has_ to be another way."

Xerius looked thoughtful for a moment and shook his head.

"I know, I can't think of another option either."

Another look was given to her while Zap pushed himself off the ground. He tried wiping the mud off his face but failed miserably, he glared back at Xerius and Windy.

Windy sighed, looking sad for a moment. "But why would I want to kill my friend? He's under someone else's control. There has to be a way, Xerius. There has to."

Zap flicked a hand towards them and lightning shot out of his fingertips. Both of them hopped out of the way as a thundering _boom_ shook the entire island. Xerius' eyes lit up suddenly and he snapped a finger as both landed behind Zap.

_"The Master Emerald! If we find that then maybe… just maybe… we can bring Zap back."_

Windy frowned. "Chaos energy… hmm… it's worth a shot. Okay, come on but we're going to have to drag him along. Jason, Chase, you guys stay here and catch up later!"

The two Dimension Jumpers nodded their heads while they sat next to an unconscious Ria as Windy turned to Zap. "Hey Zigzag! Bet you can't catch us! You weren't even close to catching me last time!"

"Is that a challenge?" Zap growled.

"No, smart one, it's an invitation to a tea party." Windy said sarcastically, looking mildly annoyed.

Xerius cracked a smile and both of them turned and booked it away from Zap as he pulled out his sword. "Get back here!" He yelled at them and then ran after them.

Windy looked around as they jumped up onto the brick wall with a frown on her face. "Alright, now… where's the Master Emerald?"

Xerius paled at the sight before the big city and wondered if they were _ever_ going to find it in time.

-XXXXXXXX-

"Can you hear me? Katherine?" Silver asked as Katherine laid on the ground.

Katherine's eyes glanced over at him then turned to Xsus again. "Don't check on me, I'm fine! Go check on Xsus… I don't know if he's breathing!"

Silver turned to Xsus and stumbled over to him as Cream rubbed a cool cloth on his head frantically. Cream looked at Silver in surprise as he put a hand on Xsus' chest. Silver was terrified to find that his heartbeat was slowing down. About one beat every three seconds. The white hedgehog swallowed his fear and turned to Katherine. "Um… he's… he's…"

Thankfully, Chase and Jason came over before Silver could admit that Xsus was almost dead.

"Room for one more?" Jason asked dryly as they set Ria down on the ground next to Xsus.

Cream sniffed. "Not Ria too!"

"We have to help Windy and Xerius," Jason said slowly, standing up. "Keep an eye on her for me. How's Xsus…?"

"Not good." Katherine grumbled dryly. After a moment of silence she continued. "And I can't even move, also really irritating. You know how annoying it is to have your brother drop you off then go fight an ultimate bad guy and you can't even _watch_?"

Chase rolled his eyes. "Calm down Katherine, at least no one's attacking you."

"Think again…" A new, and disturbingly familiar voice said behind them. Everyone that could move glanced back in surprise and shock to see Doctor Eggman in his classic flying machine. Surrounding him was an army of large, robotic robots. Eggman let out a dark laugh, one he had never used before and behind his glasses his eyes flashed red and black. "How good it is to see you all again!"

"Eggman!" Everyone that saw him called out at once.

"Oh great, Eggman's here." Katherine said dryly. "Sure wish I could _see_ him!"

"Are you done complaining?" Jason asked her.

There was a moment of silence. "No," Katherine admitted.

Chase, Silver, and Jason turned to Eggman. "We have to keep the others safe. They can't fend off for themselves." Silver said angrily.

Jason glanced over at Chase. "Looks like Windy and Xerius are going to have to wait for awhile until we can help them out."

Chase nodded then lifted a fist. "Alright Eggman! Do your worst!"

"Attack!" Eggman pointed at the three and the robots charged forward while Chase, Jason, and Silver jumped forward to attack.

**Dun dun! Another chapter done… and Katherine, you got any Ace?**

**Katherine *grumbles and pushes over an Ace* "Is it because I'm considered an OC in this world that you know all the cards I have?"**

**Me "No… never thought of it like that. Anyways, you people know the drill, review so the next chapter can come out, read my other story, etc. Okay, Shadow your turn."**

**Shadow "I see no point to this game… you got any Kings, Katherine?"**

**Katherine *growls* "Oh come on! What is with you people?"**


	24. Tables Turned

**The story is coming close to a close with three chapters (including this one) remaining… who will win? Good? Evil? Only time will tell and only time will know…**

**Windy "Except you."**

**Me "You **_**had**_** to ruin the moment, didn't you, Windy?"**

**Windy *shrugs* "It's my job!"**

**Me "I thought you worked for the Light Givers and occasionally G.U.N."**

**Windy "You really don't know me do you?"**

**Me "…..."**

**Windy "While the author tries to think about the meaning of what I just said, I will continue on from here. SPECIAL THANKS to raeweis, UnknownFollower, and Maraya Prower for reviewing! Also, special thanks goes to…" *takes a deep breath* "ballandcup, Elisabeth the fox, Maraya Prower, MobiusGirl, raeweis, and Sgt. Creeper for following the story!"**

**Raeweis= Truthfully… I didn't expect that to happen when the idea first came around, haha. I know, I know, I'm the author and everything too- how does that work? Oh, I got a bad joke for you: "What did the poor, orphan boy get for Christmas?"  
Answer= Cancer  
That's just terrible, I'm guilty again for laughing…**

**UnknownFollower= Xsus "Yay! I'm favorited!"  
Katherine *looks thoughtful* "Is that even a word?"  
Xsus "I don't know! But I do like that word…!"  
And here's one of the last exciting chapters! :D Hope you enjoy it just as much as the last exciting one.**

**Maraya Prower= Hmm… electric shock… that's a weird idea but don't forget, Xsus is a hydrokenisis person… that might end badly if Zap shocks him lol. CPR (Xsus is secretly wanting Cream to do it over here. Xsus… *shakes head slowly*) might work better.**

**Disclaimer= I own nothing that belongs to SEGA. If I owned anything that was SEGA's then Cosmo wouldn't have died… hmm… I could write a story about that… na, it'd ruin this one. Anyways, all that belongs to me is the Dimension Jumpers and the three professors.**

**Chapter Twenty-Three= Tables Turned**

_Rage. Hate. Anger._

_ Innocent. Kind. Naïve._

_ Polar Opposites but together mean something more._

Xsus slowly opened his eyes and found himself in a dark room with no one around and nothing in the room. He slowly pushed himself to his feet and winced when he felt a searing headache. With a hand on his head, he looked around nervously, not sure where he was. "H-Hello?"

_"Hello…"_ A telepathic voice said calmly, but it wasn't Xerius.

Xsus paled. "Who… who's there?" He tried to sound brave but his voice was shaking like a leaf in the wind. He lifted up his fists. "I know how to fight, you know! And I fight good with water!"

_"I know…"_

"Show yourself!" Xsus cried.

The ground before him started turning a pale blue color, the color of water. Xsus took a startled step back and lowered his fists. Out of the pale blue water, a small shape started forming until it stood about his height. The two shared eye contact, pale green with ocean blue.

"Chaos!" Xsus yelped.

_"Hello…"_ Chaos said. Its green eyes were focused on Xsus and it lifted its clawed hands. _"I wish… to thank you… for what you have done to me."_

Xsus frowned nervously. "What have I done to you?"

_"Freed me…"_ Chaos said simply. He lifted a clawed hand towards Xsus. _"Thanks to the kindness in your heart you stopped me from going on a rampage. Thanks to your innocence, I found mercy. Thanks to you… I am free from the monster Terrarock…"_

"Freed…?" Xsus repeated. "So… you're back to normal…? You're not evil anymore? You're a good guy again?"

Chaos made a laughing sound, but it wasn't harsh or evil, it was smooth and kind. Xsus caught himself grinning and started laughing too, for reasons why, he had no clue. The two laughed for awhile until Xsus wiped a stray tear from laughing so hard. "Why are we laughing?"

Chaos stopped and turned his green eyes towards him. _"Yes. I am what you call… a good guy now…"_

"So…" Xsus panted, trying to breathe again from laughing. "Where are we?"

Chaos lowered a claw. _"When we fell off the island and crashed into the waterfall, Terrarock made an order for me to do something I never liked doing."_

"Which is…?"

_"Take control… of someone."_

Xsus paled. "Wait… Terrarock wanted you to control… me?"

_"Yes."_

"What? Why?"

_"How should I know? He wants to kill everyone. Even the ones that are working for him. You were already cut up so I found my way into your body without too much resistance, and besides, you were unconscious."_

"Wait!" Xsus waved his hands at Chaos then looked around the dark room nervously. When he spoke again, his volume level dropped to that of a whisper and he clasped his hands together nervously. "So we're in… my mind?"

_"Yes."_

"Ahhhhh!" Xsus screamed and started running around in circles around Chaos, who sighed like he couldn't believe Xsus was doing this.

_"Calm down…" _Chaos finally stated and Xsus froze from his rampage around the room directly behind Chaos.

He turned to Chaos, tears in his eyes. "Don't take control of me, Mr. Chaos, sir, _please_! I don't want you to accidently hurt anyone I care about! I've already lost so many people in the past…"

Chaos looked back at Xsus. _"I won't… but I do have a plan."_

Xsus frowned. "Which is…?"

_"When I came into your mind, Terrarock's power was forced out of me. In the naïve part of your mind, I found mercy and was able to resist Terrarock's control over me. Therefore, if we work together, we can stop Terrarock and bring back the ones that are under his control."_ Chaos now turned fully to face the boy again.

"If we work… together…" Xsus repeated slowly.

Chaos nodded slowly and held out a clawed hand.

Xsus crossed his arms stubbornly. "How do I know you're not going to control me? I want to fight with my own mind and body."

Chaos made a sighing sound. _"I will let you have total control. All that I will do is help you and guide you."_

Xsus frowned. "Is that… all?"

_"Yes. Xerius would be proud of you. You are treating this situation like he would."_

Xsus grinned and struck a hand out. "You got yourself a deal, Chaos!"

Chaos lifted a clawed hand and Xsus blinked in surprise when he watched it transform into a normal hand. It rested in Xsus' hand and they shook on it. Xsus frowned at the texture of Chaos' hand in his own, it was smooth, and cool, and also felt wet but when he checked his hand as soon as the handshake was over, it was anything _but_ wet.

_"Now… it is time for you to awake. The others need you."_ Chaos snapped with the hand he shook Xsus' with and all went black.

-XXXXXXXX-

"TERRAROCK!" Sierra roared as she shoved the red hedgehog out of the way. The hedgehog fell to the ground as she lifted up her sword and stabbed downwards, using the same move she had when killing her twin sister.

Terrarock rolled out of the way and got to his feet, avoiding the blow. He flipped backwards, his black boots kicking Sierra in the face as he did so, causing her to flip over backwards and land on the ground hard. She sat up and then was dragged out of the way by Shadow the hedgehog as Terrarock's punch at her face missed by inches.

"What are you doing?" Sierra growled at him as Terrarock grabbed his scythe from the ground and lifted it as Sonic the hedgehog charged at him, a blue blur running at full speed. He slashed and missed the blur as he slid to a stop behind him and delivered blow after blow of punches to the back of Terrarock's head.

"Saving your sorry life." Shadow growled.

"You might _think_ we're related in some weird way but we're not. And don't expect me to ever repay you." Sierra growled. "And I'll kill you first once Terrarock is out of the picture."

"Fine by me." Shadow smirked. "I don't want to be related to you anyways."

Blaze the cat raced by them and lifted a hand towards Terrarock. Flames roared out of her fingertips towards Terrarock but the monster dodged them by jumping high into the air and Knuckles pulled Sonic out of the way before he could get burned by Blaze's flames.

"Careful, we don't want you killed yet, Sonic." Knuckles chuckled.

Sonic rolled his eyes as he jumped to his feet and both of them charged at Terrarock as he landed on the ground not too far away with Blaze right behind them.

Sierra hopped to her feet and charged at Terrarock as Sonic, Knuckles, and Blaze attacked him in different angles. Shadow glanced back and his eyes widened when he saw Silver, Chase, and Jason managing to hold off a robotic army. Xsus was still on the ground, Katherine lay motionless next to him, and Ria was passed out not too far away.

Shadow was about to run towards them when he heard someone shout him name.

"Shadow!"

The hedgehog glanced back in surprise and his eyes widened and he gasped at the sight before him. Sonic was holding Terrarock down miraculously with Knuckles and Blaze helping. Sonic looked at him. "Shadow, come on!"

Shadow was about to jump forward to deliver a final blow when he heard the hum of a plane. Everyone else glanced up to see familiar triangle plains open fire on the group. Sonic, Blaze, and Knuckles hopped out of the way as the planes shot on where Terrarock once was.

The planes swooped by and Shadow couldn't help but smile. Molly and the others had their backs now. The planes flew towards the city and started shooting down on the inside however the Meterex leaders hopped up from what seemed to be nowhere and started attacking them to defend the city.

Shadow scowled and glanced over as Terrarock forced himself to his knees. He was panting heavily and had a hand on his chest. He was covered in scratches and bruises from the fight and his green eyes glowed with hatred. "How… how dare you!"

"Oh, you don't look so good, Terrarock." Sierra sneered.

Terrarock glared at her, panting heavily and pushed himself up. He lifted his hands upwards angrily. "If I cannot win this fight then I will control you instead and force you all to kill each other!"

He started chanting when a sudden bolt of lightning shot down from the sky. Terrarock let out a cry and fell to his knees again, his fur and cloak smoking from the attack. He turned his gaze over and growled angrily. "ZAP!"

Everyone looked at the castle wall in surprise to see Zap, Windy, and Xerius looking down at them.

"Long time no see." Zap said coldly.

_(Seven long minutes ago)_

"Come on, Xerius!" Windy said as the two ran up the circled stairs of the tower. "The Master Emerald _has_ to be up here!"

Xerius glanced down the stairs as the entire tower seemed to wobble and shake from the force of what seemed to be a million men. _"You know if it's not up here then we have to face an evil Zap and not to mention Dark Oak and his men."_

"Yep, now let's keep moving!"

The two hopped up a final couple of stairs and were stopped to see a large thrown room before them. To the left, a golden thrown was in the dark, obviously making this the place for Terrarock. A window was before them, drapped in red velvet. To their right on a pedestal surrounded by glass was the glowing green Master Emerald and the purple Chaos Emerald that Eggman had took.

"There it is…" Windy smirked.

Xerius ran up to the glass and used his claws to slice a clean cut through the center of it. As the glass fell and shattered on the floor, Windy walked up, her feet crunching the glass on the ground below them. She picked up the Chaos Emerald and her eyes widened. "Wow… this is… weird."

_"Have you never held a Chaos Emerald before?"_

"No… have you?"

Xerius shook his head as Windy inspected the emerald. "It's… it's like it's made out of light energy but also made out of dark energy as well… I bet that's why Eggman and Sonic want these; because they can be used for both good and bad. Made out of light and dark energy. That explains a lot…"

Then crashing through the door came an enraged Zap. Both Windy and Xerius turned towards them and Windy used a blast of wind magic from the open window to slam the door shut in the Meterex's faces.

Zap growled. "Even if you stop my allies I can kill both of you myself."

"No… no you won't." Windy said seriously.

"What? Of course I will!"

"You won't because you are my friend… and it might be because I just happen to be holding a Chaos Emerald."

Xerius nodded. _"She has a point."_

Zap scowled at him as Windy took a step forward, holding the Chaos Emerald tightly in her hands. She lifted it up above her head and glared at Zap. "Come here."

"No," Zap crossed his arms with a scowl.

"Xerius?"

Xerius appeared behind Zap and shoved him to the ground, pulling his hands behind his back. Zap growled angrily and Xerius growled back, resulting in a growling contest to see who could growl the loudest and for the longest time. After a minute or so of this, Windy sighed. "Okay, are you two done?"

Xerius stopped growling instantly while Zap turned and growled at her.

Windy put a hand on Zap's shoulder and lowered down to his height on the ground. She looked at him in the eye with a frown and looked at the purple emerald and looked at Xerius. "If I have to go with Plan B… it never happened."

Xerius nodded.

Windy closed her eyes and lifted the emerald to Zap's face. Zap tried to scoot away from it, terrified, like the thing was on fire but Xerius stopped him.

"Chaos Control." Windy whispered and bright light flashed in the room, blinding everyone for a moment. The door flew open and the Meterex followers started charging in but stopped when they saw the light and retreated back down the stairs.

When the light finally faded, Zap and Windy both fell over, stunning Xerius. Windy coughed and pushed herself up first and glanced at Zap before sighing in relief. "Thank the Light Givers it worked."

Zap pushed himself from the ground and rubbed his head. "What… what just happened?" His clothes were now white once more and he had the yellow color back in his fur. Zap touched his face and looked over at Windy. "Where are we?"

"Terrarock's castle."

"He built a castle? Wait! Is he still alive? Where are the others? Are the safe? What did you do?" Zap started rambling on a bunch of other random questions until Xerius smacked him on the side of the head.

"Ow! Xerius!" Zap glared back at the warrior then sighed. "Fine. What happened?"

Windy quickly explained their situation, from Chaos Controlling to the other side of the world, to sneaking in, to that backfiring, all the way to where they were now, in the room. Windy took a deep breath as soon as she was done. "And that's that."

They all sat there for a moment as Zap absorbed the new information. He looked at his clothes and laughed quietly. "To think… that I would wear black."

Windy cracked a smile. "It was pretty weird."

Xerius glanced out the window nervously. _"The others need our help."_

"Right," Zap stood. "Let's go."

Windy nodded and started running down the stairs. As soon as she was out of sight, Zap turned to Xerius with a frown. "What _was_ plan B?"

Xerius' face turned red. He coughed and walked by Zap and started heading after Windy. _"For Windy to kiss you."_

Zap stood there for a long moment until he shuddered. "I'm glad the Chaos Emerald worked." He snapped his fingers and the Master Emerald dissolved into white light and Zap turned and ran after Xerius and Windy.

_Back to normal time…_

"How did you escape my control?" Terrarock growled.

"None of your business." Zap snapped. "Now it's time we brought your controlled reign to a halt."

Zap and Windy teleported in front of Terrarock while Xerius turned and ran towards the group that was fighting Metal Sonic and Project Night still.

Shadow smirked. "Looks like you're done for."

"Not quite," Terrarock replied, pushing himself back up. "I have one last trick up my sleeve!" From his sleeve he pulled out a familiar weapon none of them had seen in a while: the Scepter of Darkness. He raised it into the air and black energy surrounded the scepter then seemed to explode black energy at the group around him.

All of them flew backwards, from the black energy, and crashed into the ground hard.

"Oh _come_ _on!"_ Sonic groaned as he sat up. "What does it take to _stop_ this guy?"

-XXXXXXXX-

Silver panted as another robot marched towards him. It seemed like there was nothing but an endless sea of robots all around. Jason and Chase looked just as exhausted as he felt. Katherine, Xsus, and Ria still laid on the ground and Katherine was the only one conscious, and she was facing the wrong way so she couldn't see how the others were doing.

"How's it going?" Jason asked, punching the millionth robot.

Chase panted. "Okay… this is a tough fight!"

Silver could only nod his head in agreement.

Suddenly, a robot tackled Silver from behind and he hit the ground hard. He let out a cry while Jason and Chase turned to him in surprise. "Silver!" They cried in perfect sync.

"Jinx," Chase grinned at Jason.

"Chase! Now is _not_ the time!"

Silver nervously watched the robot pull out its gun. He tried keeping his mind calm so he could use telekinesis to move the robot out of the way but his mind was in too much of a scramble from exhaustion and fear. "Can you two quit fighting and help me out?" He demanded.

Chase and Jason turned towards him and started moving towards him but were tackled by their own robots.

Silver watched as the guns glowed, preparing to fire. He gritted his teeth in frustration. So this was it. He was going to die guarding people. So much for that kind of fate.

Suddenly, the robot was kicked away and water smashed into the robots on top of Chase and Jason. All three of them sat up in shock as Xsus landed silently in front of them. He looked up at Eggman on his flying machine and lifted a fist. "Eggman!"

"Xsus! How good of you to join the fight! Are you ready to die?" Eggman mused.

"No, because today I will _not_ die!" Xsus lifted a fist and his head proudly. "Because today I have help!"

Cream ran up next to him and lifted her fist. "Yes, he has help from his friends! Right, Cheese?"

"Chao!" The small Chao floated next to Cream.

Xsus turned back and lifted a hand slowly towards the others. Katherine slowly groaned and sat up, rubbing her neck and Ria opened her eyes and sat up quickly. Both girls glanced over and Katherine scowled. "What? Someone forgot to mention there were _this_ many robots!" She glared at Silver and Silver sheepishly grinned.

"Cool! Healing abilities!" Chase grinned. "Nice one, Xsus!"

"It's… it's not entirely me." Xsus blushed. "I got some help…"

"From who?" Katherine continued rubbing her neck as she walked up and pulled out her sword. Ria hopped forward and landed next to her brother and Jason.

"Chaos…"

Eggman sneered. "It seems that Chaos finally broke control of Terrarock and it also seems that it is also working with Xsus."

"It's controlling you?" Ria gasped.

"No, no, no!" Xsus waved his hands at her. "We're working together! It's okay, Ria, really!"

"But…!"

Katherine lifted a sword. "We're going to have to worry about Xsus and Chaos later. Right now we have a fight to face."

Silver, Jason, Ria, Chase, Xsus, Cream, and Katherine prepared themselves for battle as the robots lifted their weapons at them. Silver pulled out his Chaos Emerald and quickly healed himself, Jason, and Chase with the spare energy he had left.

"Alright…" Katherine glanced over at Silver.

"What?"

"Your call." Katherine waved a hand towards the robots, a grin on her face.

Silver grinned and lifted a hand. "Charge!"

All of them charged forward.

**Me "You know… I still don't know what to say to your comment, Windy."**

**Windy *laughs* "Fine by me! I'll finish this for you too! Alright, you people know the drill. Review for the next chapter to come out, or review so we can know if you like the story. Now go down to the button and click on it! Also, review on the other story, I just showed up in it."**

**Me "Windy!"**

**Windy "I have my own ego to keep in check, BlackSandHeart, thank you."**

**Me "You're just as bad as Zap sometimes!"**

**Windy *shrugs innocently***


	25. To the Bitter End

**Xerius and I had a very silent conversation and since there are only two more chapters left- counting this one. Therefore when it says: to the bitter end… we're not kidding. ANYWAYS, review and enjoy. Also… keep in mind… this story IS rated T…**

**Thanks to Maraya Prower, Strife the Dark 152, UnknownFollower, and Guest for reviewing on this chapter!**

**Maraya= Lol…  
Zap *panicked look* "Get her off of me!"  
Windy *still scowls*  
Haha! I remember that Sonic X episode, I was shocked that Cream had the guts to do that when I first saw that episode! Anyways, I shall be annoying and update one chapter a day… if someone reviews :P**

**Strife= Yes… about around now you've finished most of the story and am starting to secretly hate me for killing off Mephiles… but hey! I guess that could explain how Strife doesn't remember anything.**

**UnknownFollower= With you right there… that's the entire reason why it's not in the book. They act more like brother and sister then a couple… anyways here's the next chapter where the two water boys fight for the world!**

**Guest= Chaotic Xsus… lol… that's an awesome name, I must admit. And dysfunctional families, okay now thinking about it that's true. Sierra vs Katherine vs Shadow… that's quite interesting! Also, with your comment on Shadow's Gathering, you're right it was supposed to be Chase vs Knuckles lol my bad, thanks I fixed it too.  
Katherine "Gah!"  
Shadow and Xerius "….."  
Xsus "Yay! Chaotic Xsus won me first place!"  
Chaos **_**"Good job!"**_

**Disclaimer= I don't own anything that belongs to SEGA… gah you get the picture. Onto one of the final chapters of Day of the Dead!**

**Chapter Twenty-Four: To the Bitter End**

Terrarock sneered as Sonic the hedgehog charged at him at full speed. However, Terrarock was slower than Sonic and got punched square in the face. But, he managed to grab Sonic as he ran by and swung him around, sending him flying high into the air with a yell.

"Sonic!" Blaze the cat cried.

"I got him!" Windy called as she lifted a hand and used wind magic to set Sonic back down to his feet without crashing hard into the ground.

Sonic gave her a thumbs up. "Thanks!"

Windy nodded while Terrarock spun his scythe around like a windmill to stop Sierra's charge as she seemed to fly towards him. Sierra slid to a stop at the last possible second and barely avoided getting sliced to pieces.

"We need a plan!" Zap growled as all of them gathered close together, leaving Sierra and Terrarock to battle. "If we just uselessly attack us he'll win for sure!"

"I know, I know! But what can we do?" Windy growled. "I'd say let's use the power of the seven Chaos Emeralds or something but all we got is a Master Emerald and four Chaos Emeralds. We don't even have our full team!"

Blaze looked thoughtful. "I have… an idea… but it's just an idea."

Everyone turned hopeful eyes onto her.

"Well… since he _is_ a Follower of Darkness I was thinking we use the opposite of darkness to stop him." Blaze explained. "The light."

"The light… huh?" Sonic looked thoughtful. "But how do we create light energy? I bet the Dimension Jumpers can do it easily but I bet we're going to need all the light we can get and it isn't exactly sunny today, is it?"

All of them stole a moment to glance upwards at the sky as it rained down on them and flashed lightning occasionally.

"We could use the Master Emerald!" Knuckles said. "I'm sure it has some light power."

"Great idea Knuckles," Zap praised. "I was thinking that too but I didn't want to make the rest of you look like a bunch of idiots…"

"Zap?" Windy crossed her arms.

"Yes?"

"Just admit that you didn't know."

Zap scowled at her while the others chuckled, finding a rare moment of happiness in such a bleak moment.

"Alright, back to our current situation." Shadow said darkly. "We use the Master Emerald and the Chaos Emeralds to somehow create light energy, correct?"

"Well…" Knuckles rubbed the back of his head. "It could go horribly wrong. We could let out dark energy instead and power up Terrarock… but besides that yeah. It _should_ work."

Everyone frowned, as if thinking of the possibility of this backfiring. Blaze shook her head. "We have no other choice. We die if we don't do this."

Sonic nodded. "She's right, okay guys let's gather the others up!"

"Already here, Sonikku!" Said a voice and Sonic got hugged from the sidelines as Amy ran up to him, hugging him tightly. Sonic looked over at the pink hedgehog in surprise.

"Amy? What are you doing here? Where's Metal Sonic and Project Night?" Sonic asked worriedly.

Rouge and the other people of the team fighting the two monsters off dropped by around them. Rouge hugged Xerius excitedly. "Xie here helped us out. Didn't you, Xie?"

Xerius rubbed the back of his head, his muzzle turning red. _"Yeah… I kind of surprised attacked Project Night and Omega and I worked together and took out Metal Sonic for now."_

Sonic nodded, looking impressed. "Good job, Xerius, you too Omega!"

Xerius dipped his head and Omega made a whirling sound as Chase, Ria, and Jason dropped down then saluted. "We're here too." Jason said. "Once Xsus… Chaos… whatever, once they came and healed everyone we were able to take down Eggman and his robots quickly."

"Eggman was here? That was who those robots belonged to?" Shadow growled. He glared at Silver as he floated down from the sky. "I thought you told me she'd be safe!"

"I am!" Katherine huffed as she appeared out of thin air next to her brother. "For the sake of the Light Givers, Shadow. I'm fine!"

Shadow sighed in relief then glared at Silver while everyone else gathered around.

"Great," Knuckles crossed his arms. "Now that everyone's here how do you new comers feel about using the Master Emerald into defeating Terrarock?"

Silver lifted a fist. "So you plan on using the Master Emerald to make light energy to destroy Terrarock?"

Knuckles nodded and he turned to Shade. "Shade, I'm going to need your help."

"I'll help you." Shade nodded.

Zap snapped his fingers and in a flash of white light, the Master Emerald appeared. Everyone stared at the emerald for a moment, rain dripping down their faces. New cuts, scratches, mental scars, and bruises were on their body to count tomorrow- if it ever came. It dawned on them if this didn't work then the world was going to end. Terrarock would live again and this dimension's peace would end for probably ever.

Sonic shook his head and cleared his throat, drawing everyone's attention to him. "Okay people, let's do this. Everyone ready? Just call on the Master Emerald and focus on its power taking out Terrarock. Dimension Jumpers? I don't know how you do it but do your own light thingy."

Everyone nodded and Knuckles frowned. "The Master Emerald might shatter if we do this…"

Rouge gasped. "The Master Emerald will shatter? Maybe there's another way…" She stopped when she saw Xerius glaring at her and sighed in defeat.

Everyone spread out into a large arc, to create a better range of hitting Terrarock and not a circle, in fear of hitting the person on the other side. Knuckles and Shade turned to the Master Emerald as Knuckles lifted his hands into the air with Shade. "The seven servers are the Chaos Emeralds… the emeralds serve the Master Emerald… the power in enriched by the heart…the controller is the one that unifies the chaos… Master Emerald, please give us light!"

The Master Emerald started to glow as Katherine glanced over at Shadow next to her. "Ready?" Shadow asked her, his crimson eyes glowing.

"Born ready." Katherine smirked and lifted a hand towards Sierra and Terrarock, who were still fighting and seeming too involved in the fight to notice what the others were doing.

"Are you sure this will work?" Cream asked Xsus on the other side of the arc.

Xsus smiled. "It will work, Cream."

In the back of his mind, he head Chaos say: _"You can do it, Xsus." _and it made Xsus' smile grow bigger as he turned to face Terrarock again.

Knuckles continued chanting with his hands in the air with the help of Shade. The Master Emerald, and the Chaos Emeralds, started glowing a bright, white glow.

Rouge turned to Xerius. "Xerius?"

Xerius' brown eyes glanced over at the bat.

"It was nice knowing you."

_"What are you talking about? This will work."_

"I hope so… but in case it doesn't work…" Rouge reached out and pulled Xerius close to her and kissed him. She quickly pulled away and both of their faces turned bright red like they both couldn't believe what just happened.

Xerius blinked and didn't say anything, but after a moment, he started to smile.

"Ready everyone?" Sonic yelled and Terrarock and Sierra froze in mid leap and gaped at the glowing light, Mobians, and Dimension Jumpers around them.

"N-no!" Terrarock wailed.

Sierra took a stunned step backwards.

The past story of Sierra in another dimension flew through Katherine's mind as she felt a familiar power serge flow through her and probably the others. She gritted her teeth to not say anything but couldn't help it. "Sierra! Get out of the way!" She yelled.

The dark one turned to her in surprise as bright light show out of everyone's palm. Shadow lifted his other hand and turned it to Terrarock. "Chaos… Control!" A blast of chaos energy flew at Terrarock as he wailed in pain.

Sonic and Silver lifted their hands and repeated the move.

Through the mixture of bright light, they could see Terrarock slowly dissolving into nothingness, parts of his flesh peeling off. He wailed in agony and his voice seemed to echo to the corners of the earth as the light grew brighter and brighter, making everyone wince and look away.

Then, an explosion of light covered everyone and everything. The light magic stopped coursing through everyone and they dived for the ground. Silver seemed to appear out of nowhere and tackled Katherine to the ground. "Get down!" He called to her while Shadow dropped down next to them. Everyone around them grabbed, helped, or called each other to the ground.

Everyone covered their faces as what seemed to be an explosion of energy shot out from where Terrarock and Sierra once stood and blasted through everything, through the castle, the trees, everything. The sound of something shattering was heard too through the mix of explosion.

Then… silence.

-XXXXXXX-

Sonic the hedgehog looked up slowly and looked over at Blaze the cat, who he yanked to the ground at the last possible second. He sat up slowly, rubbing his eyes and seeing splotches of white light in his vision, even with them closed.

"Are… are you okay?" Sonic asked Blaze.

Blaze sat up slowly and nodded as she looked at him. "I'm… I'm fine."

The others around them started getting up. Xsus helped Cream to her feet as she clutched Cheese in her arms tightly. Xerius looked like he was trying not to laugh as Rouge complained about something unknown. Knuckles and Shade were investigating a shattered Master Emerald, both lost in thought. Shadow and Silver were arguing with each other as Katherine sighed in disbelief. Windy and Zap were laughing about being alive still. Omega was somehow managing to move while Jason, Amy, Ria, and Chase were all glancing at themselves, checking to see if any of their fur had burned off in the explosion before laughing at each other.

Sonic felt his head pounding and blood rushing through his veins still. He felt anything but safe and looked at the spot Terrarock was at, but found nothing but a pile of ashes that floated away in a gust of wind. Blaze put a hand on her heart and let out a sigh in relief, like she had held her breath the entire time. "I… I can't believe that we've won!"

"Me either…" Sonic said slowly. He looked up at the clouds… to find that there were none; just a slowly fading night sky getting ready to reveal dawn. The blue hedgehog looked around and then realized the castle seemed to have vanished, along with all the people inside of it. All that was left standing was the shrine to the Master Emerald that Sonic knew Knuckles, Tikal, and Shade would return to soon. There was still a lush green forest surrounding the shrine, it was like Terrarock had never come through here.

_"Sonic? Sonic?"_ A familiar voice cried.

"Tails!" Sonic glanced at his wristwatch, which was still intact. "Are you okay?"

_"We're fine!"_ Tails said. _"There was just a bright light and after that nothing… time's moving again though!"_

"That's great, Tails." Sonic grinned. "Come here to Angel Island. I don't think anyone here wants to move another inch."

_"You got it, Sonic!"_ The image faded out and Sonic knew Tails would be here soon.

"We're alive!" Ria screamed in joy. She hugged Chase tightly and turned to the others as they all started making a circle and sitting on the grass, letting their feet rest and their pounding hearts slow down.

Xsus sighed in relief. "I thought I was done for!"

_"Of course you weren't. I knew you could do it the entire time." _Chaos' voice said in his head, but no one else could hear it but him.

Xsus smiled. _Are you going to leave soon, Chaos?_ He thought with a frown while everyone laughed and smiled around him and Sonic told them Tails and the others were on their way.

_"Yes…"_ Chaos said sadly. _"But do not fear. You can always visit me for I will help the Echidnas guard the Master Emerald."_

Xsus smiled. _I'll visit you then!_

_"You better…"_ Chaos said and then laughed, which brought Xsus to laugh, and then everyone else started laughing.

"What are you laughing at Xsus?" Cream giggled as soon as they were done laughing.

"Oh… nothing." Xsus grinned.

"It's over!" Amy said. "I can't believe we made it!"

"No… it's not over." Shadow said darkly. "Don't forget… we have the dead people we want to stay to worry about now."

"Shadow," Katherine said seriously. "Let's just enjoy the moment until Tails and the others get here."  
Shadow shook his head while the others continued laughing. Suddenly, Cream stood up with an excited look on her face. She pointed to the horizon. "Look everybody! The sun's rising!"

"After time being stopped for so long, I don't think I ever realized how special a sunrise really is until now." Amy said happily.

Katherine suddenly frowned as the sun got closer to rising and everyone became quiet, yearning for its coming. She thought about what just happened and then realized what something was missing. Where was Sierra? Was she dead? Did she hear her warning in time or was it too late? Katherine shook her head stubbornly. They were enemies. Why would Katherine be caring about what happened to her enemy?

The Dimension Jumper's eyes drifted over to the shrine the Master Emerald was normally supposed to be sitting and her eyes widened. Standing right where the Master Emerald was supposed to be with their arms crossed stood Sierra. Her head was held high and she glared at Katherine. However, the look in her eyes wasn't pure hatred, it also showed a bit of respect mixed in with the anger.

Sierra dipped her head towards Katherine, the look of respect disappearing to pure hatred once again added with a _I'll-get-you-someday_ look as well. Then, Sierra vanished in a flash of dark light, teleporting away.

Katherine bit her lip in confusion. Did she really _just_ see that happen?

"Katherine?" Windy said, calling her attention back over to the group. Katherine glanced over, the frown disappearing. "What are you looking at?" Windy asked.

"Oh… nothing." Katherine smiled as the sun peaked over the horizon and everyone froze, enjoying the moment of warmth and peace it brought.

Never had a sunrise felt so welcoming before.

**Obviously, the story is not over. Stay tuned for the next chapter!**

**Xerius **_**"Which will come out when one of you reviews…"**_


	26. Farewells and Christmas

**The final chapter… I must say thank you all for your reviews… you kept the story alive after all this time and now it's here to be finished. Also, I bet after this I'll get over 1,000 views on this story :)**

**Thank you to the ones who reviewed so this chapter could come out and waited excitedly and never ceased to make me laugh, smile, and feel like this story was **_**worth**_** something to all of you: Maraya Prower, raeweis, UnknownFollower, Guest, Strife the Dark 152, and the newbies to the story: BlackStormNomad, Chaosthehedgehog, and the other guest known as Midra.**

**Maraya Prower= Windy "Zap?"  
Zap *pales* "Yes…?"  
Windy "Give Maraya a better hug before she **_**does**_** strangle you."  
Zap "….. alright." *walks over and gives you a hug*  
Katherine "Thanks for saying I have a good heart… I do what I think is right, usually, or at least I try to."  
Me *smiles* "Okay, cute. Anyways, thanks for reviewing on the story and secretly… (I never said this if they ask)… I always kind of thought them as a cute couple in some weird way. Also, it was kind of scary in your mind, but I understand how it works now though- and no that's not a bad thing. Then again, now I understand that this story meant more to you then just another typical story here on FanFiction. Thank you. And thanks for all the times you've reviewed on all my stories actually. I hope I see you again in my other stories soon, Maraya!"**

**Raeweis= "Bitter End" by the Veer Union, huh? Hmm… I guess I'll have to try it out since I do love rock music. Anyways, I know… even I'm sad to see the ending (obviously by the tone of voice I put in here above). Haha, and after this I'll most likely post more frequently on my other stories (one story at a time- obviously). Thanks for all your reviews, raeweis and I hope to see you review and write some more!**

**UnknownFollower= Of course I will! More about Sierra is revealed in this chapter along with some other things. And I assure you, Terrarock is gone… for now :P Thanks for the reviews, and I hope to see you review some more again soon (P.S. you should make an account! That way you can write your stories and I can return the favor!)**

**Guest= Katherine "LAST? Ah, oh well. At least we had fun while doing this."  
Xerius **_**"Agreed. But now we know who's the best ninja ever: me."**_**  
Xsus *grins* "You are pretty ninja with your claw knife things."  
Xerius *looks thoughtful and shrugs innocently*  
Shadow "Just you wait until the next story, Xerius and we'll see who stays ninja in that tale."  
Xerius and Shadow *glares at each other*  
Me "ANYWAYS, I liked the ending too with the sunrise. I wanted something to be peaceful and to remind people how important some things in life we take for granted are… I hoped it work lol. And yeah, Xerius and Rouge… who would've ever guessed? Thanks so much for all your reviews my guestly friend (haha) and I can't wait to see you review again in Shadow's Gathering!"**

**BlackStormNomad= Haha, just realized in that weird part of myself that our pen names are sort of similar: BlackStormNomad, BlackSandHeart… **_**anyways**_**, were those the best 1.5 hours of your life that you spent reading this? Sad you could only join us for the last chapter, but the other story I'm writing is around so you can check out that one as much as enjoy this one. Thanks for your review and I hope to see you again soon!**

**Chaosthehedgehog= Glad you liked the story, Chaos. Haha… anyways, glad you liked how everything turned out and thank you so much for the review and I hope to see you again in my other stories! Here's the last story!**

**Strife the Dark 152= Flame "Oh look, the hedgehog made it."  
Katherine "Oh good… the Follower of Darkness is back."  
Flame "Oh… the Light Giver, typical. Knew I'd meet you sooner or later."  
Katherine and Flame *glares*  
Me "Um… okay… anyways, looks like you've finally made it to the end (since you're reading it) and thanks so much for all that you've done, Strife!"**

**Midra= Chaos, I give you a big round of applause from Xsus himself for being able to hold your breath for that long!  
Xsus *claps hands enthusiastically*  
Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter as much as the last twenty-four plus prologue and I also hope to see you review again in my other stories!**

**Disclaimer: It never changes… ***_**sigh**_*** it's still the same I don't feel like writing it.**

**Chapter Twenty-Five= Farewells and Christmas **

"Maria, Cosmo, Molly, the other members in her team, the professors from the ARK, thanks for being with us today." Zap said, walking back and forth like a drill sergeant while the group of the names mentioned before stood before him. He glanced at the group with a frown. "I have called all of you up here because I deem you worthy of coming back to life…"

"No thanks." Molly suddenly said.

Zap froze and glanced back at her. Not too long after the sunrise, everyone else had gathered. Molly and her team landed with reports that they finally destroyed the Meterex, getting revenge on the ones that had killed them all. Commander Towers was spotted by Maria right before the team left to meet up with Sonic and the others and the professors got rid of him quickly. It seemed like all their dead enemies were finally gone for good. They now stood around the shrine to the Master Emerald, the dead friends they had made along the way stood in a line in front of the remains of the Master Emerald while everyone else gathered at the bottom of the shrine.

Thanks to time being stopped too, time was now speeding up so it could catch up with the normal flow of time. Therefore, ending the Day of the Dead faster than anyone expected. Therefore, they were doing it now, even though it was close to noon and nowhere near midnight. So, the Day of the Dead was now ending at noon because of the time warp.

However, now that Molly _denied_ the want of coming back, a hushed silence surrounded over everyone.

"Why not?" Zap raised an eyebrow.

Molly looked at the members of her team, who nodded and she turned to Zap. "We're grateful for the offer, really. But… after talking with my friends we realized that we don't want to come back. We've done everything we wanted to, we've destroyed the Meterex and the universe is in peace once again. Who could ask for anything more? So, we decided to… leave… again."

Shadow stood up from the crowd. "Don't you want peace here? There's plenty of room for everyone to come back!"

"About that…" Zap rubbed the back of his head nervously. "After a talk with Knuckles and the other Echidnas, we realized that only four people are able to come back to life."

There was a stunned moment of silence then everyone gasped and talked nervously to each other.

"Five minutes 'till noon Zap, speed it up." Windy said, glancing at a watch she was holding.

Zap frowned. "Anyways, as I was saying only four of you will stay so everyone make your choice on who you want to stay and…"

"Wait for me!" A new voice called.

Heads swirled backwards to someone in the back of the crowd. It was female, with catlike features. She had a blue diamond in the center of her forehead like Katherine's. Her emerald green eyes glowed as she struggled through the crowd up towards Zap, her golden fur had a brown tint in it making it glow in the sunlight. She had long hair the same color as her fur that reached almost to the bottom of her back and a tail longer than any of the Dimension Jumpers.

Zap, Windy, and Katherine's eyes widened when they saw the girl. Katherine jumped to her feet next to Shadow as the girl ran towards her. "Savanna?"

Savanna stopped and glanced over. "Katherine!" She jumped into Katherine's outstretched arms, revealing both of them looking about the same height and age (by looks). Both girls started crying right then and there.

"What are you doing here?" Katherine cried, wiping away a tear.

"I don't know! I remember feeling cold and lifeless then suddenly woke up not too far away from here. I've been trying to reach you guys for _days_! I can't believe I made it!" Savanna said, smiling.

Sonic frowned. "Who's this?"

Katherine turned to the blue hedgehog, grinning like a fool. "This is my friend Savanna. We've been best friends for years until a Followers of Darkness raid on the Light Giver's capital where she died saving my life. I thought she was gone forever but… I guess not."

Windy hopped down the stairs. "Savanna! Are you okay?"

"I'm fine!" The cat turned to Windy and smiled, clasping her hands together and shrugging innocently. "I'm just so glad to see you guys again!"

Windy stopped in front of Savanna and grinned. "Come here, you." She said and hugged Savanna tightly, resulting in a stunned silence. When she let go the three girls smiled at each other.

"Get your butt up here Savanna so we can pick who gets to stay or not!" Zap suddenly yelled down.

Savanna took a startled step backwards but ran up the stairs like she was told. She stopped next to Cosmo, who smiled at her. "Hello Savanna, I'm Cosmo."

Savanna smiled at her. "That's a pretty name."

Cosmo blushed as she smiled.

"Alright, so therefore, I want all of you to pick who you want to stay and who you want to go." Zap finished. He crossed his arms and glanced at Windy's watch. "You got two minutes."

The dead people glanced nervously at each other. Maria lifted a fist boldly. "I won't stay."

Molly shook her head. "Come on, someone has to keep an eye on Shadow. If I'm not going then who will?"

The four professors from the ARK turned to each other, nodded, and looked at them. "Maria, you should go." Gerald said seriously.

"What? No! Grandpa, if anyone has a right to live again it should be you!"

"No, you should live again. Thanks to you dying and coming back alive, you don't have NIDS anymore." Gerald explained. "Molly is right as well. I need an eye on Shadow as soon while I'm gone. Katherine is good, yes, but you will do a better job since Katherine can't always stay here."

"But…"

"You're staying Maria." Gerald said, standing tall. "And that's final."

"But…!"

"I could not come back, I don't really want to," Savanna blushed. "I just came here to see my friends… ha."

They all glanced at her and smiled. "You're coming too, Savanna." Maria said. "Katherine looked so happy to see you again. I barely know you… but you seem like a good person to me."

Savanna blushed.

"I don't have to stay behind." Cosmo offered. "I could let someone take my spot."

"None of us are going." Professor Sanderson snapped. "You're staying too."

"Neither is anyone on my team." Molly added. "It looks like the three of you get to stay!"

"But there's room for one more!" Maria turned a desperate eye onto Gerald and he shook his head no.

"Fifty seconds." Zap said he turned to them with a sad look on his face. "Who's staying and who's going?"

Knuckles stood up from the crowd with Shade, Tikal, and Chaos (who left Xsus' body a few hours ago) with Chaos Emeralds in their hands and started gathering them in a small circle on the ground.

Maria turned to her grandfather. "But… grandpa!" She stopped and took a deep breath. "I'll… I'll miss you…"

Gerald gave her a tight hug. "And I'll miss you too. Take care of yourself and do not grieve for me. We'll be together again someday."

"Okay…" Maria whispered, her words muffled by the lab coat. She turned and hugged the other professors, whispering goodbye before turning to Molly.

"Thanks for keeping an eye on Shadow." Molly said. "I bet he'll be happy you're staying."

"I hope so… and I hope I see you again, Molly. You seem like a good person." Maria smiled.

Cosmo and Savanna hugged everyone quickly. "Thanks for letting me stay," Savanna continued to whisper.

"It was great fighting alongside a great team like you." Cosmo told everyone.

The three girls hopped down the stairs and gathered in the Chaos Emerald circle. Tears dripped down Maria's cheeks as she looked up at her family and friends. She knew she'd be happy here… but this was her first time in the world without her grandfather keeping an eye out for her. "_We'll be together again someday."_ His words echoed in her mind and Maria forced a smile and waved. "Goodbye Grandpa! Bye Annie, Darren, Scarecrow, everyone! I'll miss you guys!"

Katherine stood up. "Thank you for all that you've done. I'll never forget you guys!"

Shadow stood up and nodded his farewell and smiled at Molly for probably the last time ever. Around the entire group that sat at the bottom of the shrine, everyone stood up and waved farewell as they all agreed on seeing each other again someday.

The group of the dead waved back at them as Zap glanced at the watch in Windy's hands while Windy waved farewell to the ones that she fought alongside with, five… four… three… two… one…

A flash bright of light surrounded the entire world. Everyone covered their eyes, thankful it wasn't as bright as the one used to get rid of Terrarock. As soon as the light was gone, everyone glanced at the shrine to the Master Emerald, seeing that the people that were once up there had vanished.

They then turned their attention to the people in the Chaos Emerald ring and saw Maria, Cosmo, and the girl named Savanna still there. The girls looked at themselves and gasped that they were still there, like they couldn't believe it had worked. The three smiled big as the entire crowd started to cheer.

Shadow and Katherine ran up to Maria and hugged her tightly. After a minute or two, Katherine grabbed Savanna and yanked her into the hug. Tails jumped to Cosmo and hugged her tightly as everyone gathered around in celebration.

Zap smiled as he stayed out of the giant group hug and he looked back to the shrine, the smile fading slowly. _Thank you for all that you've done._ He thought.

_You're welcome…!_ A chorus of familiar voices of the dead called back, making Zap smile faintly once again.

-XXXXXXXX-

With his back to the tree and the cold wind in his face bringing a small array of snowflakes, Xerius looked out over the valley outside of Amy Rose's home. He smiled at the smell of apple cider that came from within the house feeling the peaceful feeling of Christmas surround him.

"Hey Xie!" A familiar voice called behind him.

Xerius glanced back and smiled as Rouge handed him a cup of apple cider. "I got you some. I wasn't sure if you wanted some though but I brought some out anyways. Hope you enjoy it. I worked all night last night with Amy, Cream, Maria, and Cosmo making this."

Xerius took a sip of it and felt the apple cider warm him entire body. He smiled at Rouge. "It tastes amazing." He told her.

Rouge smiled at him. "I'm glad you like it." She stood next to Xerius and the two stared down the hill and at the forest surrounding them, covered with a thick blanket of snow. "So…" She said after a pause. "How about another date sometime soon?"

Xerius smirked. "I'd love to take you out on another one."

Rouge's smile grew and the two of them watched the snow in a peaceful silence until Xsus ran by with Cream on his shoulders and Cheese flying after them excitedly. "Weee!" Cream squealed with joy as they slid down the hill.

"Xsus, Cream, don't get yourselves killed!" Xerius called after them.

"We won't!" Xsus promised as the two ran down the hill until Xsus slid to a stop and helped Cream get down from his shoulders. Both fell on their backs and Xsus glanced at Cream. "That apple cider stuff you made was amazing!"

"Thank you!" Cream smiled. "I worked hard with the others making it!"

They became silent until Xsus moved his arms and legs, giggling. "Haha, hey Cream, check it out! A snow-cat-angel!"

Cream looked at him, and giggled, then started making her own snow angel. Cheese fell on the ground and started making his own, resulting in both Xsus and Cream stopping, looking at the chao, then all three started laughing.

Not too far away in a tree, Tails and Cosmo sat in a tree, admiring the falling snow and the sound of laughter from Cream, Cheese, and Xsus. Cosmo put a hand on the tree's trunk. "So… this is the tree that came from the seed you found after the battle with the Meterex?"

Tails smiled, looking wistfully into the distance. "Yeah… it's kept me going all these years."

"Well, I hope I keep you going now too." Cosmo smiled at him.

Tails laced his hand into Cosmo's and the girl's face turned a shade of light red as she blushed. Tails smiled at her. "Of course you do, Cosmo!"

Cosmo smiled as she glanced over and noticed something. "Oh, Tails, look! Ria, Chase, and Jason are doing something!"

The two glanced into the distance and saw the three of them walking around casually… until Chase threw a snowball at the back of Jason's head.

"Hey!" Jason spun around while Chase grabbed Ria's hand and pulled her away, laughing. "No fair, Chase, get back here!" He picked up his chunk of snow and chucked it at Chase but Chase ducked and the snowball hit the back of… Amy?

Jason paled while Chase and Ria ran behind Amy's house. He ran up to the pink hedgehog in fear of getting wacked with a Piko Piko Hammer if he didn't say something. "Hey Amy, are you okay?"

Amy turned around, tears in her eyes. "What…? Oh… hi Jason. I'm fine. Did you throw the snowball at me?"

Jason swallowed nervously. "Um… yeah. That was me. I'm sorry."

Amy scowled and said nothing for a moment. "I saw Sonic talking to Blaze… and I suppose… that means…"

Jason sighed, he had heard plenty about _this_ situation before. He was glad he was good friends with his own sister so he'd know what to say in this situation. "Don't worry about it, Amy, I'm _positive _Sonic isn't going out with Blaze just yet."

"Just yet?"

"Forget that I said that."

Amy frowned and then her eyes lit up. "So… there's a chance of me of winning back Sonic's heart after all?"

"Of course there is! Now… um… I have a favor to ask you…" Jason said, feeling embarrassed that he was asking for help.

"What is it?"

"Chase threw a snowball at me… and so… yeah…"

"I'll help you get him back, Jason. Besides, I think I owe you one for lifting up my spirits!" Amy pulled out her Piko Piko Hammer, a dark grin on her face. "Now let's go get Chase."

Jason grinned and both ran around the house, scaring the light out of Chase and his sister as the two pelted them with snowballs.

Sonic laughed as he watched the group run around the house throwing snowballs at each other. Blaze the cat rolled her eyes and sipped her apple cider before looking at Sonic. "So, the Scepter of Darkness was destroyed along with Terrarock?"

"I guess so, how could it survive a blast like that?"

"I guess you're right." Blaze nodded and then smiled at Sonic. "How would you like coming to my dimension sometime soon for a run around? I'm sure you will enjoy it there. It's much warmer there this time of year."

Sonic grinned back. "I'd love too! Besides, everyone else is busy now that the Day of the Dead is over. I bet Tails and Cosmo will be too busy doing things together along with Shadow and Maria. Knuckles will probably be busy guarding the Master Emerald with Tikal, Shade, and Chaos now. And the Dimension Jumpers will probably head back to their dimension. I got nothing to do."

Blaze's smile grew until they heard Zap yell down from the rooftop. "Jason! Watch where you're throwing snowballs. You don't want _me_ to come down there do you?"

Windy rolled her eyes as she sat on the roof with Savanna and Zap. "Zap, I think the last thing any of us wish to ever see is you involved in a snowball fight."

Savanna giggled until she turned to Windy. "So you're telling me Sierra is still alive and that Eggman got away after his beating with Silver, Xsus, Chaos, Katherine, Jason, Ria, and Chase?"

"Pretty much, so I guess our adventures aren't over yet!"

"Who told you Sierra was alive?"

Windy smiled as she glanced over at Katherine, who laid in the snow with Shadow and Maria, all of them looking at the winter clouds high above them. "Katherine told me."

There was a moment of silence until Savanna spoke again as Zap hopped off the roof to join the snowball fight. "She looks so happy with them in the snow."

"I bet she is." Windy smiled.

Katherine, on the other hand, rolled her eyes while Shadow and Maria talked to each other about where they wanted to go when the snow eventually melted.

"I've always wanted to see a waterfall…" Maria said. "They sound like amazing things to me, water falling from the sky it seems. Snow is amazing too but I've seen enough of it after seven days."

Shadow smiled at her. "Well, I guess I'll have to take you to one someday."

Katherine groaned and stood up, wiping the snow off of her clothes and fur. "Okay, it looks like you two need some alone time."

"What? No! Katherine! Get back here!" Maria called as Katherine walked away, laughing.

Shadow watched her go and shrugged. "We can talk to her later about this."

Maria looked at him. "I guess so."

Both of them then smiled at each other.

Katherine walked to the back porch where she saw a face she didn't expect to see. She saw Silver the hedgehog with his feet on the table, investigating the forest behind Amy's house. A cup of apple cider sat next to him, steaming in the cold air.

"Silver?"

Silver glanced over in surprise. "Oh, hey Katherine."

Katherine frowned and took a seat next to Silver. "What are you doing back here?"

"Enjoying the scenery."

"Well then, I'll enjoy it with you."

Silver smiled and the two became quiet for a long while until Silver spoke again. "Do you think it's over? That we'll finally see peace again?"

"Of course not." Katherine scoffed.

"What? Why?" Silver glanced over at her, a confused look on his face.

"We're with Sonic the hedgehog. Since _when_ has life ever been easy for us?"

Silver laughed and Katherine smiled as they both turned their attention to the peacefully falling snow with the sound of laughter and talking coming from the front of the house behind them.

_THE END_

**Another good ending… I hoped you liked the story and that you enjoyed it. Please review if the story changed your life forever (or you just really liked it) and so on. Thank you for all you have done keeping me going after all these chapters. **

**Also, while reviewing please answer the two questions I have for you: 1. Who was your favorite character (Windy, Zap, etc.)? And 2. What was your favorite couple (example: XsusxCream, those weird SilverxKatherine moments…)? And yes, there can be more than one answer on both. They'll be helpful for me so I know what couples to keep up here and what characters should continue appearing.**

**Xsus *sniffs* "T-that… that was a beautiful ending!"**

**Me "Glad you liked it, Xsus."**

**Xerius **_**"I must agree. You did quite a good job on all of us."**_

**Jason "You know, maybe I can light myself on fire in one of your stories, BlackSandHeart."**

**Ria *looks annoyed* "Light yourself on fire?"**

**Chase "Dude! That will be totally awesome!"**

**Jason "That's what I'm saying!"**

**Chase and Jason *high five***

**Me *rolls eyes* "**_**Anyways**_**, if you like this story then go read the next story that I'm writing: Shadow's Gathering where Sonic the hedgehog ends in another world and all your favorite OCs of mine (Katherine, Xsus, Chase, etc.) appear in it."**

**Windy "I'm back with some Popsicles… that someone wanted. I take it it was you, Xsus?"**

**Xsus *face lights up like a birthday candle* "Yay!"**

***Everyone gathers around Windy to get a Popsicle***

**Me "Well… okay… I want one. Alright, thank you all for reading Day of the Dead and I'll see you all when the next story comes around, Light be with you all until we meet/read/review again!"**


End file.
